


What A Time

by ToriWritesStories



Series: What A Time For You And I... [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom Deserves Better, Cheryl Blossom has a crush on her best friend, Drama, Endgame Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Cheryl Blossom, Northside Southside Drama, Protective Toni Topaz, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, Southside Serpent, Southside Serpent Toni Topaz, Then she meets Toni Topaz, Thursday and Sunday updates, regular updates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 139,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22586665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriWritesStories/pseuds/ToriWritesStories
Summary: "You here to watch that girl?" a voice-the Serpent girl-asked from behind Cheryl."She's my friend, I'm here with her." Cheryl didn't even bother to turn around."Yeah, sure seems like SHE'S here with YOU."Cheryl scoffed. "So she wants to go hook up with some guys? Who am I to stop her?"The girl laughed. "Someone with a crush?" Cheryl spun around to glare at her."I do NOT have a crush on anyone. Definitely not my best friend.""Whatever you say... I'm just saying. You've been staring at her since you sat down..."-Aka: Cheryl Blossom has been refusing to acknowledge the feelings she has for her best friend, Heather. When some Southside Serpent, Toni Topaz, starts to get in her business about it, she finds herself seeking advice, refuge even, from the girl-despite the fact that Cheryl classifies all Serpents as lowlife losers. And slowly, somehow, she finds herself getting closer to the last person she ever would've imagined she could get close to.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Heather, Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Series: What A Time For You And I... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121750
Comments: 403
Kudos: 670





	1. i think about it sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> Good morning, lovelies! It's a great morning for a new story, wouldn't you say?  
> I tried hard to write a decent summary for this story. I kind of want to type out a more detailed explanation of what to expect from this story here... but I think it'll be less fun that way. So I'm going to try and avoid talking anymore for my story, and let it do the talking itself.  
> Quickly for those who don't know... I have completed this story, but I will not be posting it all at once. Updates will be posted on Sundays and Thursdays. I appreciate comments and I try to respond to all of them! I will also always tweet you back if you tweet at me @BrittzandTana :) Oh - and I didn't introduce myself. My name is Tori, for those of you who haven't ready any of my stories before :) This is my 3rd Choni story on Ao3! Before that, I wrote close to 20 (I think?) Clexa stories that are also here on Ao3. Before THAT I was on Fanfiction writing for PLL and Glee... but we don't need to get into that lol.  
> Okay, okay! Without further ado! Here is the first chapter of What A Time!

Cheryl Blossom sat in the dining room of Thornhill, the huge mansion of a house that her family owned, her eyes down on her phone as she tuned out the conversation happening between the rest of her family. Her twin brother Jason was talking about his next football game, and her parents were doting on him as per usual, and she was just waiting for her ride out of here. Her car being broken down had really put a damper on her mood lately, and she was very grateful that a mechanic was finally coming out to look at it the next day, but for now, she was stuck waiting on others to help her leave the house.

Usually, those others were in the form of Veronica Lodge, a classmate who she might _somewhat_ consider a friend, or, more often, Heather Wright. Heather was Cheryl’s best friend, and they were usually seen out together whether or not Cheryl’s car was in working order or not.

It was Heather she was waiting on now. They were going to a party, although Cheryl wasn’t sure exactly what party they were going to. She was pretty sure Reggie Mantle wasn’t throwing one, and he was usually the one to do so. Plus, Veronica wasn’t going with Cheryl and Heather, which she usually would if the party was hosted by someone at Riverdale High School.

Cheryl was running out of things to look at on her phone by the time she finally heard two honks of a car from outside. She immediately stood up from her seat and glanced up at her family. “I’m going out. Don’t wait up for me.”

“Remember your curfew, Cheryl!” Penelope Blossom hollered after her.

“I won’t!” Cheryl yelled back, before slipping out of the house. She walked down the sidewalk, past her poor, dead, red Chevy Impala convertible, and up to Heather’s blue Audi.

The passenger window was rolled down, and Heather called through it, “Get in, Cher! We’re late!”

“That’s not my fault,” Cheryl reminded her friend as she got in the car.

“Yeah it is, because I had to come get you,” Heather argued, but Cheryl knew she wasn’t mad. She buckled her seatbelt as Heather started driving. “How was dinner with your family?”

“Oh, as great as usual,” Cheryl answered sarcastically, slipping her phone into her pants pocket. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a tight red top, and red lipstick, to compliment her red hair and pale skin—appropriate party attire for the cool Spring weather. Heather, however, was adorning a very different outfit—a tight, short black dress, and that was it. “Did you even bring a jacket?” She would definitely be cold without one, but Cheryl had to admit that the dark color of the dress did contrast nicely with her light blonde hair and blue eyes. Her makeup, though, was darker than usual.

“No,” Heather answered. “The goal tonight, Cher, is to get guys to want to give me _their_ jackets.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. Heather was always going on and on about guys. Parties were often about getting hookups, at least in Heather’s mind. Cheryl, however, had very little interest in hooking up with guys, so she usually sat on the sidelines while her friend seduced the boys of Riverdale. “Where are we even going?”

Heather smirked. “Let’s just say, you _won’t_ be a fan of what’s _on_ their jackets.”

That confused Cheryl only for a moment, just until she realized what direction they were driving. “We’re going to a _Southside party_?”

“Loosen up, Cher, it’ll be fun,” Heather insisted. “I promise, I won’t let any Serpents hurt you, little cherry.” She laughed at her own words, and Cheryl rolled her eyes even as a blush rose to her cheeks. Heather had started calling her “little cherry” when they were a lot younger, when Cheryl would be nervous about doing something. It was supposed to be teasing when they were younger, but now it was more endearing. At least, Cheryl hoped it was.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to hook up with those _Serpents_ ,” Cheryl told her friend.

“Why not?”

“Uh, because they’re _in a gang_?” Cheryl answered incredulously. “They’re Southside trash, they’re dirty. I wouldn’t even want to touch one, let alone _sleep with one_.”

“When’s the last time _you_ even slept with anyone?” Heather asked.

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at her friend. “There’s nothing wrong with the fact that I don’t want to sleep with random people, okay?”

“I’m not saying there is. I’m just saying, you and I clearly have different sex drives. Call me desperate, but Southside boys sound good as any to me tonight,” she joked. “Plus, you know I meet guys with the intention of not _just_ sleeping with them.”

“Yeah, but you do a very bad job of explaining that intention to them.”

Heather just shrugged, and continued their drive onto the Southside. Cheryl felt herself tense as they crossed the railroad to the other side of town, knowing that the nice car they were in would make them a target to anyone looking to get some quick cash.

But they made it to their destination—wherever that was—safely. As they got out of the car, Cheryl realized that it was a bar called the White Wyrm. “Are they even going to let us in?”

“Get out your fake, Cher,” Heather said, and Cheryl silently scolded herself for forgetting that she had a fake ID. She quickly grabbed it out of her purse and they walked into the bar, IDs in hand.

But no one was checking IDs, which she supposed shouldn’t have been surprising, considering the location. There were quite a few people there though, and most of them looked to be about their age, so it did seem to be a party. Only a few tables in the corner were empty, the rest were mostly full of people drinking and laughing and talking. Heather led her to the bar, where they did have to show their IDs to order any alcohol. The bartender didn’t seem to do more than glance at either of them, though, and gave them the beers they ordered without any question.

“Alright,” Heather said, eyeing the crowd. “See anyone cute?”

“Not really,” Cheryl answered, already bored, as she took a sip of her beer. Usually, she could have fun at parties even with Heather spending most of her time going after guys, but at a Southside party? Cheryl wasn’t even sure she would be able to bring herself to talk to anyone.

It took Heather all of ten minutes to pick a guy to go after. She’d detailed her strategy to Cheryl before—find one that seems single, is hanging out with friends, and seems just bored enough to do something stupid. Cheryl thought it was all dumb, but then again, she’d never seen a guy who made her want to do something stupid. No, the only person who could really convince her to do stupid things was Heather.

So Cheryl moved to sit at one of the empty tables at the side of the bar while Heather started to flirt with the guy she’d chosen. She watched the interaction, telling herself that she was just keeping an eye on Heather for safety—telling herself that she wasn’t looking at Heather’s long legs, her flirty smile, her gentle curves…

She coughed suddenly, realizing that smoke was filling her lungs, and glanced over her shoulder. At another nearly empty table next to her, a girl was sitting on the table, her feet on the bench, with a joint in between her fingers. She was wearing combat boots that looked a bit worse for wear, ripped jeans with what looked like fishnets under them, and a black crop top. To top off the outfit, she was wearing a Serpent jacket.

Cheryl glared at her, but the girl was on her phone as she smoked, clearly not noticing. She had dark brown hair streaked with blonde, pink, and purple, and Cheryl was pretty sure even without the Serpent jacket, she would know this girl was bad news. “Do you mind?” Cheryl heard herself snap suddenly, and the girl looked up in confusion, eyebrows knit. Cheryl nodded at the joint in her hand.

The girl just rolled her eyes, took another hit, and let the smoke out of her mouth slowly, her eyes on Cheryl the whole time.

“You know that’s bad for you,” Cheryl scolded, as if she was talking to a child.

“What? Weed?” the girl snapped.

Cheryl let out a puff of air in annoyance. “No. Smoking.”

“Yeah well, a lot of things are bad for you,” the girl said, leaning back slightly even though she had nothing to lean onto.

Cheryl just sighed, scooting slightly away from the girl in attempts to avoid the smoke. Her gaze returned to Heather, who was looking to have a successful time flirting. The guy she was talking to couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. That wasn’t unusual. Guys were almost always attracted to Heather.

“You here to watch that girl?” a voice asked from behind Cheryl—the joint girl.

“She’s my friend, I’m here with her,” Cheryl stated, not even bothering to turn around.

“Yeah, sure seems like _she’s_ here with _you_.” The sarcasm in her voice was obvious.

“We always go to parties together,” Cheryl informed the girl, as if she owed any sort of explanation, “so that we can make sure neither of us gets in too much trouble. So she wants to go hook up with some guys? Who am I to stop her?”

The Serpent girl let out a little chuckle. “Someone with a crush?”

Cheryl immediately spun to glare at the girl. “I do _not_ have a crush on anyone. Definitely not my best friend.”

The Serpent lifted her hands in defense, looking highly amused at the reaction she got from Cheryl. “Whatever you say. I’m just saying. You’ve been staring at her since you sat down.”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes. This girl had noticed when she sat down, which meant that she must’ve known Cheryl was there when she started smoking up a cloud. _What a bitch_ , she thought. “I’m trying to just make sure she stays safe,” Cheryl justified.

The girl glanced over at Heather and snickered. “I don’t know about safe, but she seems to be having fun.” Cheryl followed her gaze, and saw that Heather was now wearing a Serpent jacket over her shoulders, and the guy she’d been talking to was bringing over a tray of shots. “How come you’re not over there having fun with them? She ask you to stay away?”

“No,” Cheryl snapped.

“Well then, what? It hurts if you’re by her while she’s flirting with someone else?” Cheryl stayed silent. She didn’t like that this girl was trying read into anything she did. She didn’t owe anyone an explanation for her and Heather’s party routine. And this wasn’t the norm for her, usually she had other people to hang out with. “Yeah, that one, huh?”

“Look, bitch,” Cheryl growled, looking back at the Serpent girl, “the reason I’m sitting over her alone is because I don’t want to waste my time hanging out with any of you low-life losers. I’m only _here_ because my best friend wants to be here. So I will sit here alone if I want to, making sure that my _friend_ is okay, for however long I please.”

The girl’s dark eyes now turned into a glare, for the first time during this exchange looking angry. “Fine then, Red. I’ll leave you alone so you don’t have to associate with any low-life losers.” The girl scooted off of the table and sauntered away, taking another hit from her joint and then turning her head over her shoulder to blow the smoke right toward Cheryl, who immediately began coughing at the direct inhale she was subjected to.

“What a fucking bitch,” Cheryl grumbled.

For a while, she stuck to the empty table in the corner, drinking her beer and keeping an eye out on Heather. At the same time, though, she found herself watching the Serpent girl. She’d gone to join a couple of guys at the bar, and they were talking loudly and laughing about something. They couldn’t be much older than Cheryl and Heather, if at all, but they were drinking freely and the bartender would stop to chat with them every now and then. So either they were of age, or the bartender here really didn’t care. It was the Southside, though, so Cheryl wasn’t really surprised.

Eventually, Cheryl got bored, and she finally got up, tossing her empty beer bottle into a trash can, and started approaching Heather, the guy she was with, and his friends. “Hey,” she said as she approached.

Heather grinned when she saw her. “Hey! Cody, guys, this is my friend Cheryl,” Heather introduced. “Cheryl, this is Cody.”

“Hey,” the guy said, giving her a kind of creepy smile, but Cheryl did her best to return it anyway. “Do you guys want to play pool?”

“I’m down!” Heather answered. “I don’t know how to play though. Do you mind showing me?” That was a lie, Heather did know how to play pool. But Cody didn’t know that.

“Yeah, of course,” he said eagerly, pulling her toward the pool table. Cheryl rolled her eyes—no one had even waited to hear her answer, the rest of the guys following them over to the table. Cheryl followed, leaning against the wall by the pool table as she watched Heather getting all the attention she wanted from Cody, and some from his friends too. They would whistle anytime she gave a little hair flip, and she kept winking at Cody and doing that little giggle she always did to try and get guys interested in her.

Cheryl usually stood out in a crowd—her bright red hair standing out in any environment. She was loud and assertive, she got what she wanted and did whatever she pleased. She and Heather basically ruled Riverdale High.

But it was times like these, when she was in Heather’s element, the blonde getting all of the attention, that Cheryl would feel truly invisible. She was hot, she knew it. She was a cheerleader and dancer—she knew that she had good thighs and a good ass. She knew that guys stared at her at school when she wore her short cutoff shorts or tights. But somehow, Heather could captivate everyone’s attention, and Cheryl would go entirely unnoticed. It was like she put a spell on her, on them, on everyone.

Getting tired of hanging out on the edge of the group, Cheryl found herself going back over to the bar and ordering another beer. She made sure to stay on the side of the bar where the Serpent girl and her friends were _not_ , but she caught them giving her looks anyway. She got her new beer and sat down at one of the bar stools, drinking it and pulling out her phone to try and keep herself occupied.

It was almost an hour later that Cheryl decided that she was too bored out of her mind to stay at this party. She glanced over at Heather, who was still having a great time, and decided to text her rather than make anything awkward.

**Cheryl – Need to head out soon.**

She watched Heather pull out her phone and check it, and watched those perfect blonde eyebrows knit together a little. Heather didn’t look over at her, instead just typing something back.

**Heather – Fine. Half an hour? I need to get his number still.**

**Cheryl – Is that going to take half an hour?**

**Heather – Please Cher?**

**Cheryl – Okay. I’m going to wait outside. The smoke in this place is going to give me lung cancer.**

**Heather – Okay, I’ll meet you out there in a bit.**

“Everything okay?” Cheryl, who had started for the exit now, could hear Cody ask Heather.

“Yeah, fine,” Heather answered, pocketing her phone. She started saying something else, but Cheryl was already pushing the door open and stepping into the cool air outside. She leaned against the wall of the building, looking up at the stars in the sky. It was a nice evening, and Cheryl was actually wishing that she hadn’t come to this party. It had definitely been more stress than what was worth a couple of beers and the shitty company.

Speaking of shitty company, a few minutes after Cheryl had stepped outside, the door swung open and the Serpent girl emerged. She immediately looked at Cheryl and groaned. “Damn it.”

“Are you following me now?” Cheryl demanded.

“No, I thought you left for good. I just needed fresh air,” the girl answered sharply. She still had a joint in her hands, but to Cheryl’s surprise, she didn’t take a hit, leaning against the wall on the other side of the door and lowering it. “Why are you still here if you hate it so much? You’re not even inside to keep an eye out on your friend.”

“She’s my ride.”

“Ah. Really? You don’t have a car?”

“I do,” Cheryl answered, not sure why she was even entertaining this conversation. “I have a really nice car, thank you very much. Just…” For some reason, she didn’t want to admit that her car wasn’t working right now. “My friend drove me.”

“Figures.”

“What figures?” Cheryl snapped.

“That you have a car. Northside Rich Bitch and all that.”

Cheryl flared her nostrils, throwing a glare at the other girl. “Excuse me?”

The Serpent girl shook her head, laughing a little but not sounding amused. “Man, you Northside people are so easily offended.” Cheryl said nothing, deciding that her time was worth too much to keep this up. The girl started smoking again, and Cheryl did her best to ignore the smoke. Finally, though, the Serpent girl put out her joint and walked slightly away from the building, over to where a group of motorcycles were parked. She started to get on one.

“Of course you drive one of those death traps,” Cheryl muttered under her breath.

“What was that, Red?” the girl asked her.

“I said your motorcycle is a death trap.”

The girl smirked. “I guess you’d refuse then, if I offered you a ride home?”

“Yes, I would.”

The girl shrugged, turning on the motorcycle. “Alright, suit yourself, Red. Hope you have a good night pining after your best friend.”

“I’m not—”

“Bye!” She revved the engine loudly, and then sped off.

Rolling her eyes, Cheryl grabbed her phone to text Heather.

**Cheryl – Need to leave now.**

**Heather – Alright, I’m coming.**

A minute later, Heather emerged from the bar, sighing as she glanced at Cheryl. “You okay?” the blonde asked.

“Yeah, I just need to get home. Curfew.”

Heather lifted an eyebrow. “Since when do you follow your curfew rules?”

“Since my parents said if I’m not home on time, my car doesn’t get fixed tomorrow,” Cheryl lied, because it was the only thing she could think of that would actually make her go home by curfew.

“Fair enough,” Heather said. “Come on.”

During the drive home, they were mostly silent, but Cheryl finally decided to ask, “So, did you get Cody’s number?”

Heather grinned. “Yep! I’m going to another party with him on Friday. You should come too.”

“I’m _not_ going back to that nasty bar,” Cheryl deadpanned.

“Well lucky for you, it’s not at the bar,” Heather told her. “It’s at Sunnyside.”

“The _trailer park_?” Cheryl demanded.

“Yeah,” Heather answered. “Come on, Cher, it’ll be fun! And you’ll have your car by Friday, so you can leave whenever you want if you don’t want to be there. But you know that I don’t like going to parties without my best wing-woman.”

Cheryl sighed. Of course, if Heather was going to ask her like that, she would say yes. “Alright. I’ll go, but I won’t promise that I’ll stay.”

Heather grinned. “Awesome.”

When they pulled up to Thornhill, Cheryl said goodbye to Heather and climbed out of the car, heading up to the front door. As soon as she walked in, she ran up to her room, the only place in the whole mansion that she could really feel at all at ease in. Partying with Heather was her escape from this place, but after tonight, she didn’t mind being inside the walls of her unloving home.

As she sat down on her bed, her phone vibrated with a text from her twin brother.

**JJ – Did you just get home?**

**Cheryl – Yes.**

**JJ – Weren’t you out with Heather?**

**Cheryl – Yes.**

**JJ – How’s she doing?**

**Cheryl – No, Jason, Heather is still not interested in you.**

**JJ – Why do you assume that’s why I’m asking. I just haven’t talked to her in a while. We used to all be friends, you know.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, until you went after her and tried to get between us.**

**JJ – Whatever.**

Cheryl rolled her eyes. She and her twin brother had been best friends when they were young, and even when Cheryl met Heather, the three of them would always play together. But then came middle school, when Jason started doing football and Cheryl started doing cheerleading. Despite how much overlap the two sports had at school, it somehow drove a wedge between them. Cheryl started ruling school, but Jason became a bit of a playboy, and the one girl he wanted, but couldn’t have, was Heather.

He’d asked her out once, but when Heather told Cheryl, she immediately had vetoed it. Her best friend and her brother could _not_ date. Because that would be weird, right? It would be a betrayal of Cheryl’s trust if he and Heather got together.

But Heather had promised not to go out with Jason, and Cheryl was satisfied with how Heather had chosen her over her brother. She’d also chosen Cheryl over boys other times, like tonight. Even though Heather would’ve stayed all night at that bar, she left when Cheryl wanted to, and she wasn’t a bitch about it. It was things like that that reminded Cheryl why Heather was her best friend, and why Cheryl tolerated going out to watch her get with boys. Heather was always there for her.

And maybe, just maybe, a small part of her always hoped that one day, Heather would realize that Cheryl was the _only_ one who was _always_ there for her.


	2. off key in my chorus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl joins Heather at the Southside Bonfire party at Sunnyside trailer park, despite her own reservations. Her night does not really go as she planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends!! I hope you all have been having a great weekend! I have been so excited to post this for you guys! If you have any feedback, please feel free to drop it in the comments or follow me on @BrittzandTana and tweet at me :) I appreciate all feedback <3  
> Enjoy the second chapter of What A Time!

Cheryl walked into Vixens practice after school on Friday like she owned the place—because she basically did. She was the head cheerleader, which meant she called the shots. In fact, ever since the beginning of junior year, the coach had basically handed off the whole team to her, choosing to sit on the side and give occasional feedback instead of actually coaching. Cheryl didn’t mind, in fact, she loved having control of the most popular group of girls in school.

Not to mention, Cheryl was feeling particularly powerful today. Her car had been in the process of being fixed the past two days, and this morning, she’d finally been able to drive it again. It felt like she had gotten some power back over her own life, and she’d been riding on that power high all day.

“Vixens!” Cheryl called, clapping her hands together to get the attention of her squad. Amongst them were Veronica and Heather, and they were the only two to not stop talking at the sound of Cheryl’s voice. Of course, she didn’t _really_ blame them—the rest of the girls were scared of her, but Veronica and Heather were her friends, so they weren’t. Still, she had a reputation to keep up here. She cleared her throat, eyeing her friends until they finally stopped talking.

And with that, she started their practice. She’d been looking forward to practice all day, because she’d had a test in her second period that morning, and she really needed to pull her mind away from school. Also, she was kind of hoping that she could find some excuse to stay late after practice, so that she could get out of going to the trailer park with Heather in a couple of hours.

But practice went completely smoothly, and when she dismissed the girls to the locker room, she found it in mint condition—which she knew was because she’d been hard on her girls about making sure to clean up after themselves. The coach had said if they didn’t keep it clean, they’d have to stay late to clean it on a regular basis. Now, though, she wished that it was a mess.

She had no excuse to give Heather when she ran up to her after showering and changing and said, “Hey Cher! You ready for this party?”

“Yes,” Cheryl said, trying to feign confidence.

Heather laughed at the attempt, able to see through her somehow, as Veronica joined them. “What party?” she asked, intrigued.

Heather glanced at Cheryl and then back at Veronica. “It’s kind of a private thing,” she lied. “Cheryl’s parents are hosting some weird party, and I’m going with her.”

“Sounds boring,” Veronica commented.

“It will be,” Cheryl assured Veronica, catching Heather rolling her eyes.

“I’m sorry that I’m missing it,” Veronica joked. “Well, I should go. You two have fun at your weird, Blossom party.”

“Thanks, see you,” Heather called after Veronica as she headed out of the locker room. She looked back at Cheryl, speaking quietly as she said, “Sorry. I just don’t really want everyone to know that we’ve been on the Southside.”

Cheryl let out a short laugh. “Yeah, don’t worry, neither do I.”

“Come on, you can come over so we can get ready for the party together!”

Twenty minutes later found them at Heather’s house, Cheryl laying across her bed and watching her friend go through outfits. Cheryl was going to wear what she was already wearing—her black cutoffs with tan tights underneath, a red sweater, and her usual red lipstick. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone, but even if she was, she knew that the shorts helped showed off her figure enough that she didn’t need to try any harder.

“How about this one?” Heather asked, holding up the short blue dress over her current outfit.

“I like that one,” Cheryl told her. “You wore that sometime a few months ago, right?”

“Right,” Heather confirmed, setting down the dress in order to pull off her shirt. Cheryl was used to her friend changing in front of her, but it never failed to make her slightly uncomfortable. Her eyes would try to land on places they shouldn’t, so she almost always tried to act busy on her phone while Heather was undressing. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Heather pulling off her pants, and then she pulled on the blue dress. Only once it was all the way on did Cheryl look up again.

“It looks really good,” Cheryl told her, glancing down at her exposed lower thighs. “It’s definitely short enough.”

“Ha-ha,” Heather mouthed back, looking at herself in her full length mirror. “Okay, this is the one. Let me just fix up my makeup and then we can go.”

When they left for Sunnyside, Cheryl followed behind Heather’s car in her newly fixed car. It wasn’t a difficult drive, but she had no idea where the trailer park was. Why would she? It’s not like she would ever want to visit it, for any reason.

Yet, here she was, pulling up to where a bunch of cars and motorcycles were parked, parking behind Heather, and then climbing out of her car. She felt instantly out of place as she glanced around the area where the party was happening. There were dozens of trailers all around them, but in the big clearing at the entrance of the trailer park was a huge bonfire. Around it were a bunch of kegs, and Serpents and other Southside residents were standing around, mostly just drinking and talking.

“Wow,” Heather was saying as they started approaching the bonfire, “now _this_ is a party.”

“It’s hardly any different from Reggie’s parties,” Cheryl commented plainly.

“Yeah, except Reggie’s parties happen in an enclosed environment, where it’s not so easy to disappear. Plus, at his parties, everyone is practically packed together. This is much better,” Heather insisted.

“Whatever you say.”

Heather rolled her eyes, looping her arm through Cheryl’s. “Come on, little cherry, let’s get our _drink_ on.”

When they reached the kegs and started filling up two cups, Cody and the same group of guys from a few days ago approached them. “Heather!” he called in greeting. “You came!”

“I did,” Heather confirmed, giving him a flirty smile.

Cody glanced at Cheryl. “And… Cheryl, right?”

“Right,” Cheryl answered, giving him a fake, tight lipped smile.

“You girls look hot,” Cody said, grinning at Heather. “Come on, we’re about to set up some beer pong. Be our good luck charms?”

“Oh, babe,” Heather started, sounding offended, “I won’t be your good luck charm, but I’ll be your teammate. You don’t wanna mess with _me_ in beer pong.”

Cody was grinning. “Well, alright then. You guys heard the lady! Let’s set up a table and get this going!”

And once again, Cheryl found herself on the outskirts. She actually liked beer pong, and she could beat Heather any day, although the girl was really good. But she knew that if she played against her, she would make the blonde look bad, and Heather would say it didn’t bother her, but it would. So when one of the guys asked if she wanted to play, she simply told him that she just felt like watching, and watch she did.

She watched the ping pong ball fly back and forth, and watched drinks be taken on both sides of the table. She watched Heather laugh and everything Cody said, and watched his dopey smile. He felt on top of the world at this moment, Cheryl knew.

The group was finishing their third game—with Cody and Heather as reigning champions—when another group of people was suddenly approaching them. “Hey Cody, you letting a girl carry you in this game?” a guy from the group asked with a laugh.

“Hey, don’t be sexist, dick,” a voice replied to him, and Cheryl recognized this voice. She looked over at the new people in surprise, and saw that the girl who had just spoken, the Serpent girl from Tuesday night, was with them.

“She’s good at the game man,” Cody said with a laugh, “bet you can’t say the same, can you, Sweet Pea?”

“Well,” the guy—Sweet Pea?—said, “I do have a _female_ secret weapon of my own as well.”

“If you ever refer to me that way again, Sweets, I will punch you,” the Serpent girl said, rolling her eyes.

“Does that mean you don’t wanna play?” Sweet Pea asked her.

The girl was about to say something, but then her gaze landed on Cheryl, who had been staring at her since she arrived. Apparently, the Serpent girl hadn’t noticed her until now. “You know what,” she said, eyes still on Cheryl for a moment before she shifted her gaze back to her friend, “sure.”

“You guys are going down,” Cody said, “I’ve never seen anyone play as good as Heather.”

“Heather, is it?” the Serpent girl said to the blonde, who nodded.

“And who are you?” Heather asked back.

Cheryl looked back at the Serpent girl. “Do you care, Northside girl? Aren’t we all just Southside scum to you?”

Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh shut up, this is beer pong, not football. Trash talk isn’t part of the game.”

“Then let’s play,” the girl said, still not having said her name. Not that Cheryl wanted to know her name, she couldn’t care less who this girl was.

They started playing, Sweet Pea and the girl versus Heather and Cody. At the beginning of the game, it seemed like Heather and Cody were going to continue their winning streak, but after a few tosses, it was like the girl on Sweet Pea’s team couldn’t miss. And pretty soon, there was just one cup on either side, and it was Heather’s toss. The blonde was looking frustrated at the situation she’d been put in, but she was clearly focusing really hard. She took a breath, tossed the ping pong ball… and it bounced right off the edge of the cup and onto the ground.

Sweet Pea fist pumped excitedly, and Heather rolled her eyes as the Serpent girl grabbed the ball, took a short breath, and effortlessly tossed it into the other cup, without even a bounce. Cody took the drink as Heather shook her head, and Sweet Pea and the girl cheer loudly. “Woo!” Sweet Pea yelled. “Anyone wanna challenge _us_ , the new champions?”

Cheryl didn’t realize she was planning on talking until the words were coming out of her mouth, “I will.”

“You’re gonna need a teammate, Red,” the Serpent girl said, smirking.

One of the other guys volunteered to be Cheryl’s teammate, and she could tell that the group of them weren’t expecting much from her. But as she stepped up to the table, Heather gave her a smile of support. “Show ‘em who’s boss, Cher.”

The first toss was the other team’s, and the Serpent girl landed it easily. And then the guy on Cheryl’s team tossed, and it missed. Sweet Pea tossed—miss. Cheryl tossed—straight into the front cup.

And Cheryl didn’t miss a single time, but neither did the Serpent girl. Sweet Pea and the guy on Cheryl’s team would make most of their shots, but not all of them, and it was pretty much just luck that the winning throw happened when Cheryl’s side had three cups left, and Sweet Pea’s side had only one. And when Cheryl landed the toss, all of Cody’s friends cheered loudly, and Heather clapped Cheryl on the back. “That’s my girl,” she said with a grin.

That got a small smile out of Cheryl, but then she met the Serpent girl’s gaze across the table, and the smile fell off her face.

“You wanna keep playing?” Cheryl’s teammate asked her, but she shook her head.

“No, I’m going to get another drink,” she said, “but you guys keep playing.”

And they all did keep playing as Cheryl walked away from the group and over to the kegs.

The bonfire was warm, which felt nice compared to the crisp evening air, so she stayed near it as she drank some of her new cup of beer. She started to walk around it a little, scoping out the area, and realized that there were some benches on the other side of the bonfire, so she sat down by herself. She needed the moment to herself, because meeting the Serpent girl’s eyes had reminded her of all the thing she’d said the last time she saw her. About Cheryl having a crush on Heather. And she needed to clear her head.

Unfortunately, _someone_ apparently didn’t want her to get the chance, because the very same Serpent girl was suddenly walking around the bonfire, headed directly for her, a beer in one hand. “What do you want?” Cheryl snapped.

“Whoa there,” the girl said, “I wanted to congratulate you on your win, that’s it.” She sat down on the bench, about a foot away from Cheryl. “And to make sure you were good. You disappeared.”

“I’m good.”

The girl observed her silently for a moment. “I can see the appeal of your friend. She’s got a fun energy.”

“Oh really?” Cheryl asked, feigning interest in the topic.

“I’m just saying. I get why you like her.”

Cheryl sighed. “Could you please just leave me alone about it?”

“Hey, I get it,” the girl said. “We’ve all been there. If it makes you feel better, I’ve been in your position and in her position. I totally get it.”

Cheryl looked at her suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been in your position—I totally pined after my best friend in middle school for like, two years. I finally told her, and she thought I was disgusting, and well, let’s just say her nose looks a little less perfect now and she and I haven’t spoken since then,” the girl said with a laugh. Cheryl fought the urge to chuckle at the wording, because she didn’t want this girl to think she appreciated the sympathy. It was interesting, though, to hear that this girl was into girls. Cheryl didn’t really know anyone who was.

“What about her position?” Cheryl heard herself wondering.

“Oh, well I guess it was a little different. Sweet Pea, who you just met, he used to have a major thing for me. I almost hooked up with him once, just to give it a try, but I knew it was going to fuck up our friendship, so eventually I had to tell it to him straight. It wasn’t going to happen, and he needed to back up. So we spent about a year talking a little less than normal, but now we’re pretty much back to the way things used to be. Except now, he’s not pining,” the girl explained. “Thank god.”

Cheryl cracked a small smile. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Anyway. I’m sorry your stuck in that position, it’s hard. Straight girls make it hard,” the girl said, taking a sip of her beer. That made Cheryl purse her lips, and look down at her lap. She didn’t think that gave anything about her thoughts away, but the girl proved her wrong. “If you’re doubting whether or not she’s really straight, stop. Don’t let your head go there.”

“It’s just…” Cheryl trailed off. “She’s different with me than when she’s with all those guys. And… _I’m_ the one who’s there for her, you know? All she ends up getting out of guys is sex.”

The Serpent girl shrugged. “I mean, you can’t always know for sure. But let me tell you, Red, that girl… she seems straight as hell to me.”

“Cheryl,” Cheryl said suddenly, looking over at the girl. “My name is Cheryl.”

The girl’s lips quirked into a small smile. “Toni,” she returned. “So, why have you and your friend been at two Southside parties this week?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I guess she was getting tired of Northside guys. I don’t know. It was her idea. But now she likes this Cody guy.”

“So I can expect to see you here again?”

“I don’t know about that,” Cheryl said, shaking her head. “Heather fits in better at these kinds of parties.”

“You seemed to do just fine when you were kicking my ass at beer pong,” Toni joked, taking another drink of her beer. Cheryl shrugged, taking another drink as well. “Do you guys go to Riverdale High?” Cheryl nodded, not really feeling much like talking anymore. “Must be nice. Southside High sucks ass.”

“All of the Southside sucks ass,” Cheryl asserted.

Toni snorted. “Yeah, you would obviously know, having been here two whole times.”

“I don’t need to be here anymore than that to know what this place is like,” Cheryl insisted. Toni just shook her head.

“Whatever you say, Red.”

Cheryl didn’t say anything, simply taking another drink of her beer.

“Well, I’ll let you be,” Toni said, standing up again. “Good luck with your friend.” Cheryl just met Toni’s gaze for a moment in response, and then the girl was walking back toward her friends. Cheryl got a good view of the Serpent on the back of Toni’s jacket, and seeing it made her frown. Why was she here? Surrounded by _gang_ members?

Huffing in exasperation at herself, Cheryl stood up again and went back the same way she came. However, as she looked over at the group of people standing around the beer pong setup, she immediately noticed that Heather wasn’t with them.

Alarmed, she immediately grabbed her phone to text her friend.

**Cheryl – Hey, where’d you go? Are you okay?**

**Heather – Yeah I’m good! Sorry! I didn’t know where you went and I was actually about to text you. Cody took me to his trailer! Sooo, I guess you don’t need to stay at the party anymore if you don’t want to, mission accomplished if you know what I mean ;)**

Cheryl sighed. Of course her friend had already convinced Cody to go off and sleep with her.

**Cheryl – Okay, well, be safe, have fun.**

**Heather – LOL will do, girl! You should totally stay at the party if you’re feeling up to it, though. You totally showed up those Southsiders at beer pong. Who knows, maybe it’ll get you a hookup too ;D**

**Cheryl – Haha, well maybe I’ll stay a bit. But I should probably just head home.**

**Heather – Suit yourself, Cher! I’ll call you in the morning!**

**Cheryl – Okay, if you don’t, I’ll assume you’re dead.**

**Heather – Fair!**

Cheryl let out another sigh, and then headed for her car, tossing her empty cup at an overflowing trash can on her way over to it. There weren’t many people over around the cars, which Cheryl was grateful for. She didn’t want anyone to say anything about how she was leaving already.

She slid into the driver’s seat of her convertible, which had the top up because she definitely didn’t trust anyone here enough to have left it down. She turned her key in the car, the engine revved for a moment, and then it stopped. “Oh fuck no,” she growled, trying again. Again, the car did not start. “Fuck!”

She got out of the car, slamming the door, and wondering what the hell she was going to do. She paced next to the car for a minute, unable to think of anything except for how angry she was, until she suddenly heard a man’s voice speaking to her. “Hey sexy, what’s wrong?”

Cheryl froze, turning and looking at the guy who was speaking to her. He wasn’t wearing a Serpent jacket, but he looked like he might as well be one of them. He looked less than clean and had tattoos up and down his arms. But the worst part about him was the smile he wore across his lips, which was not only creepy, but kind of terrifying.

“Nothing,” Cheryl snapped, “I just forgot something at the party. I’m going to need to go and grab it.” She tried to start walking back, but the man sidestepped in order to block her path.

“You sure? I could’ve sworn you were having car issues. Need any help with that?”

“No, I don’t need any help,” Cheryl insisted. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Oh come now, sweetie,” he said, reaching his hand out to grab Cheryl’s arm. She immediately smacked it away.

“Do _not_ touch me, you disgusting creep!” she practically shouted.

“Whoa now, sweetie, there’s no reason for violence…” He took a step closer to her. “I’m just trying to offer my assistance…”

“Hey!” another male voice yelled, but this was familiar. Cheryl looked to where it came from, and saw Sweet Pea running toward her. “What the fuck are you doing man, leave her alone!”

The guy immediately backed up, looking over at Sweet Pea. “I was just trying to help, she’s having car trouble.”

“I don’t _want_ any of your help,” Cheryl snapped.

“Yeah man, leave her alone. Get back to the party or get out of here,” Sweet Pea snapped. The guy grunted, glaring at Cheryl and then finally stalked off in the direction opposite of the party. “Hey, are you okay?” Sweet Pea asked her.

“I’m fine,” Cheryl insisted coldly.

“Is something wrong with your car?” he asked.

Cheryl sighed, nodding. “It’s not starting. I just got it fixed, it was having a similar issue before. But it was supposed to be fixed by now.”

“Okay. Well, come with me, let’s see if we can do anything about it.”

“Why do I need to come with you?” Cheryl asked.

“Would you rather wait by your car, alone?” Sweet Pea asked, lifting an eyebrow. Cheryl shook her head. “Then come on, Red.”

As they walked back to the party area, Toni approached them. “Uh, hey guys. What’s up?” she asked, looking confusedly between the two of them.

“Red’s car won’t start,” Sweet Pea answered, and Cheryl realized that he still didn’t know her name. “You wanna take a look at it with me?”

“Sure,” Toni agreed, glancing at Cheryl. She must’ve been able to tell how uncomfortable Cheryl felt, because she looked really concerned. “You wanna go get your tools, Sweets?” She looked at Cheryl. “You wanna show me the car?”

Sweet Pea looked to Cheryl. “That okay?” Cheryl nodded. “Okay, I’ll meet you guys back there in a couple minutes.”

He continued into the trailer park, and Toni and Cheryl started walking back to the parking area. “Are you okay?” Toni asked. “What happened?” Cheryl just shrugged. “Red…”

“Just this guy,” Cheryl said, “some creep… he was trying to come onto me after he saw my car not start. But… Sweet Pea intervened… before I had to beat the crap out of him.”

Toni quirked a smile at that. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. What happened to your car?”

“No idea. It worked all day, but now it just won’t turn on again,” Cheryl told her. “I guess this is what I get for having a really nice, but old, car.”

They walked into the parking area. “Which is your car?” Toni asked.

“The Chevy Impala,” Cheryl answered, pointing it out.

“Oh damn. Yeah, that’s old. It’s nice though, wow,” Toni commented. Cheryl didn’t say anything, and the shorter Serpent girl went around to the front of the car and opened it up. She looked at everything carefully, while Cheryl leaned against the door in silence. When Sweet Pea finally joined them, Toni looked over at him and called, “I think it’ll be an easy fix. But you’re the expert, take a look.”

They started to talk about what was wrong with it and how to fix it, but Cheryl didn’t understand any of what was said, so she just waited patiently. She’d already accepted that her night was going all sorts of wrong, and she was just ready to go home and sleep.

And thanks to Sweet Pea and Toni, that could actually become a reality, because pretty soon, the car was starting with no issues. “There you go,” Sweet Pea said, wearing a proud grin.

“Thank you,” Cheryl said, a little stiffly. “Um, really. For before, too.”

Sweet Pea just nodded. “Yeah, no problem. By the way, you’re really good at beer pong. If _you_ ever wanna be my female secret weapon…”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Dude, the more you say that, the creepier and weirder it sounds.”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “I’m gonna go put this stuff away. Get home safe!” He turned and started off back into the trailer park.

Cheryl shifted awkwardly as she waited for Toni to excuse herself too, but she didn’t. “What happened to Heather?”

“She’s with Cody,” Cheryl stated plainly, “and I’m going home.”

She climbed into her car, but before she could close the door, Toni caught it and held it open. “Hey, I know you don’t like me, but if you ever need to talk… like I said before, I know what it’s like to be in your position. And I can help you, if you want…”

“Help me what?” Cheryl demanded.

Toni opened her mouth, but then just shrugged and took a second to finally answer, “I don’t know. Get through it. Or… whatever. I’m sure you don’t care about my opinion either way, you should get home.”

“Yeah, I should,” Cheryl agreed.

Toni nodded. “Um. Get home safe.”

“Thanks.”

Cheryl closed the door to her car and started it as Toni started to walk away. Cheryl couldn’t help but watch her for a moment, trying to figure her out. Why did she even care about Cheryl, who had been nothing but harsh toward her?

Shaking it off, Cheryl pulled out from where she was parked and started the drive back to Thornhill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you were curious, this entire story is in Cheryl's point of view. It was actually really hard to keep myself from occasionally switching to write from Toni's POV, but in the end, I LOVE that I wrote it this way. I think it's way more interesting to hear the story from Cheryl's side. I hope you all will agree the more you read :)  
> That said, if you find yourself reading any scenes and really wanting to see it in Toni's point of view... please do let me know. I would not be opposed to rewriting some scenes to be in Toni's POV, and maybe tacking it on to this story in the form of a "sequel." Actually, I may do it anyway, so just let me know if you'd like that...  
> I have a busy week ahead of me - two exams, multiple homework assignments to work on, and a giant project to finish. Hopefully I survive haha. Wish me luck, friends!  
> I hope all of YOU will have an incredible week. I very much appreciate you all being here, spending some of your day reading my story. Thank you <3 I will see you all on Thursday, lovelies! :)


	3. behind closed doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl has a lonely weekend, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Unable to shake them, she decides to seek out a certain Serpent to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning friends! It's update time!  
> A few quick things first though. Last update, I had some problems with posting the update - Ao3 was having some weird problem or something. So somehow, two version of Chapter 2 got posted, and one got posted as Chapter 5, and two more drafts of the same chapter were saved as Chapter 3 and 4 lol. I deleted all of the extras, but I know at least one person had commented on the one that went up as Chapter 5, so if you don't see your comment under Chapter 2, that's why. I don't know why that happened, hopefully that glitch is over with lol.  
> Also, in this chapter you'll start to notice my interpretation of the Southside differs from how it actually is in the show. I imagine the Southside to be an area of urban decay. With a big center area, where the White Wyrm is and the Drive In theater near by and other places, maybe a tattoo shop, little drug store, little grocery, etc. But since it's uncared for, of course things are abandoned and trashed, etc. But basically, I picture there being a centralized area where there are one or two alleys between the buildings there. Of course, not super big or anything, but I wanted to add that before you read this chapter, that way no one comes for me about it haha.  
> Without further ado, please enjoy!

It was Sunday, and Cheryl had been having the most boring weekend of her life. She’d spend Saturday morning texting back and forth Heather, who told her about her night with Cody, giving a bit too many details for Cheryl’s taste. She didn’t want to be able to picture her best friend having sex with anyone. She had to feign happiness for Heather, but even if it wasn’t completely genuine, she did genuinely hope that _Heather_ was happy.

Saturday night, Heather had gone back out to the White Wyrm with Cody, but Cheryl had declined to join them, and stayed home instead. There had been a party at Reggie’s too, and Veronica asked her if she wanted to go, but she’d declined that invitation also. So she’d spend Saturday night alone.

And Sunday was going similarly. She was trying to work on homework, but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t stop thinking about… well, Heather. She was looking back on her friendship with Heather, and noting all of the times that she’d felt attracted to her, that she’d wished that Heather would flirt with _her_ , would want to be with _her_ , instead of some random guy. She’d suppressed those feelings, or brushed them off. But yes, she’d known about them nonetheless. And now that _Toni_ had talked to her about them, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The thing was, she didn’t know what to do about it. She couldn’t tell Heather how she felt—that would be the last thing she would want to do. Not without a lot of preparation anyway. And she didn’t want to tell Veronica either, she was too close to Heather. So who could she talk to?

Toni was the only person who came to her mind—after all, she was the only one who even knew that Cheryl had these feelings. Maybe she really could help Cheryl get through it. But Toni was a Serpent, who lived on the Southside, and Cheryl couldn’t trust her. She’d been raised to never trust anyone from that side of town. And how could she confide in someone like _her_?

When Cheryl finally finished her homework, it was well into Sunday evening. Jason had knocked on her door to tell her that there was dinner downstairs, but she’d lied and said she wasn’t feeling well, so she was a little hungry now. But she felt like she was in the middle of a crisis, and she had no idea what to do with herself.

Finally, she decided the need for dinner was stronger than her desire to stay as a hermit in her room, so she grabbed her purse with her wallet, phone, and keys and left her room. She hurried downstairs and went straight out the front door, avoiding contact with any of her family. She went and got into her car, and started driving.

She found herself pulling up to Pop’s—a burger sounded nice about now. She parked her car and went in to get a burger and fries to-go—and a strawberry milkshake, of course. When she walked out of Pop’s, she saw a bunch of people on motorcycles had pulled up. Serpents, she realized, as she saw their jackets. She recognized only one of them—Sweet Pea. They were talking to Jughead, who had apparently also gotten there at some point. But their conversation seemed to be finishing up, and Jughead started to head into Pop’s, leaving the group behind. He passed Cheryl without giving her a second glance, and Cheryl started over to her car.

“Hey, Red!” Sweet Pea called, drawing her attention and causing her to sigh. He was walking away from his fellow Serpents, over to her.

“Hi,” she returned plainly.

“Little late for dinner, huh?” he asked her. “How’s your car been?”

“It’s working great, thank you,” she answered, giving him the best smile she could muster. He nodded.

“Good, that’s good,” he said. “Sorry, you probably were on your way somewhere.”

“Oh, it’s okay…” Cheryl trailed off, and he looked at her curiously, clearly noticing that she wanted to say something. And she did, but it was stupid, there was no reason for her to ask him what she wanted to.

Apparently, though, that didn’t stop her.

“Do you… do you happen to know where I could find, uh, Toni?”

He looked at her curiously. “Um, I think she was working today. She might still be there, otherwise she’s probably at home. Why?”

Cheryl said the only lie she could think up quick enough, “I let her, uh, borrow something when you guys were fixing my car on Friday. I forgot to get it back from her.” She knew it was a terrible lie, but either Sweet Pea was not good at deciphering the truth, or he didn’t really care the reason, because he just nodded.

“Oh, okay. Well yeah, she’s probably still at the White Wyrm.”

“She works there?” Cheryl asked, disgusted at the thought of working at that sleazy bar.

“Yep,” Sweet Pea answered. “Hey, we better go. I’m glad your car is still working. See you around.”

“Uh, yeah,” Cheryl returned, not really sure that she would see him around, but she had just randomly seen him on the Northside, so she supposed anything was possible. She climbed into her car with her food in her to-go bag, dropping it into the passenger seat. Once the motorcycles had all driven out of the Pop’s parking lot, Cheryl started her car and wondered if she should actually drive to the White Wyrm. She didn’t even know what she would say to Toni.

“Hi, can you please help me figure out what to do about Heather?”

“Hey, can you help me get my probably straight best friend to realize she should be with me instead of some guy?”

“Hey, I don’t really like you or where you’re from, but wanna help me anyway?”

She was sure that was how she would come across, and any option of what to say sounded pretty stupid to her. Still, she now knew where Toni was tonight, and also knew that she might not be there long. It was now, or quite possibly never.

So Cheryl sucked in a deep breath, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed south.

She reached the White Wyrm a few minutes before nine, and she saw a few motorcycles parked in the parking area in front of it. Hoping one was Toni’s, she turned off her car and got out, leaving her uneaten food in the passenger seat.

She took in another breath as she walked into the bar.

It wasn’t as full as it had been Friday night, but it wasn’t empty either. She expected to see Toni bussing tables or something, so she was surprised to see the Serpent girl standing behind the bar, handing someone a beer. How was she allowed to serve alcohol? Was she really eighteen? Or did the White Wyrm really just not care about any of the rules?

Toni noticed her approaching the bar before she’d taken more than a couple of steps. She went over to the side of the bar, her hands lying flat on the counter, as she waited for Cheryl to reach it. “Well, look who’s returned to the filth of the Southside.”

Cheryl crossed her arms. “Don’t make me regret coming here.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re already regretting it, Red. I thought this place sucked ass? How aren’t you regretting stepping foot in here?” Toni asked, and Cheryl could tell that she was just trying to get a rise out of her.

“I came to talk to you,” Cheryl stated simply.

Toni’s amused look dropped off of her face. “Well, you’re in luck. I’m about to get off. Give me a minute.” Cheryl nodded, stepping away from the bar a little. Toni finished up a few things behind the bar, said something to the other bartender, and then went into the back room for a minute. When she returned, she had her Serpent jacket on and her phone in her hand. She came out from behind the bar and walked up to Cheryl. “Alright, Red, what are we talking about?”

“Not here,” Cheryl stated, glancing around at the people who kept flashing her weird looks. Of course they were, she didn’t belong here. Anyone with eyes could see that.

“Well okay. Would you prefer to go somewhere on the Northside, or could I suggest a place?” Toni smirked, and Chery rolled her eyes.

“I don’t care. But I have food in my car, and I need to eat.”

“Okay, well then let’s go somewhere where you can eat and we can talk,” Toni said, sounding like she was still trying to tease, but not enough to aggravate Cheryl too much, thankfully.

They left the bar, and Cheryl went over to her car. “Are we driving somewhere?”

“There’s a place we can sit that’s like a minute walk away,” Toni answered. Cheryl nodded, opening her car to grab her bag of food, and then she closed and locked it up, and started to follow Toni. They walked behind the bar and down a relatively sketchy alleyway.

“This place is terrifying,” Cheryl stated.

“Yeah, well, you get used to it,” Toni answered. She stopped halfway down the alleyway and turned to face the wall. There was some junk piled against it, and Toni pushed some of it aside, and it wasn’t covering a wall after all. There was a big hole in the wall, and Toni ducked into it.

“You better not be taking me somewhere to mug me,” Cheryl muttered, already regretting it as she ducked down to enter the hole as well. But on the other side of the wall was a little space between a few buildings. It seemed almost like a flaw in the way the buildings were constructed—just a little square space with a couple of crates in it. There was one door to one of the buildings, but it was locked with multiple locks. “What the hell?”

“Used to be some kind of loading area for that place,” Toni said, nodding to the locked door. “Used to be a grocery store. When it closed, whoever bought the building put up the wall to block access to the alley, and they forgot about it. But some of us found a small hole in the wall, and well, we obviously made it bigger. I’m the only one who ever comes here though, so don’t worry.”

Cheryl nodded, and Toni sat down on one of the crates, leaning against the wall. It all looked pretty dirty, but Toni gestured to the other crate, inviting Cheryl to sit as well, so she tried to ignore the filth everywhere and took a seat. She opened her bag of food and took out her burger and milkshake.

“So, Red, what are we talking about?” Toni repeated her question from earlier.

Cheryl sighed. “Heather.”

Toni smirked a little. “Figures.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “What happened?”

“Nothing, just…” Cheryl trailed off.

“Just… I was right? You’re in denial? You don’t know what to do?”

Cheryl frowned. “Yes? I guess.”

“Look, you want my genuine advice? Stop seeing her so often. Give yourself space. Hang out with other people. Find something out about her that makes you see her in less positive light. _Find a way_ to stop feeling the way you do toward her,” Toni listed.

“But she’s my best friend,” Cheryl argued. “I can’t just _do_ any of those things.”

“You _can_ do whatever you want, just because you won’t do them doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

Cheryl sighed. “But… what if there’s a chance? What if I’m missing something?”

Toni frowned. “You really think there is a chance that your _best friend_ , who is totally boy crazy, is actually in love with you?” Cheryl shrugged. “Look, Cheryl, I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but that doesn’t happen very often. Okay? There’s not very many gay or bi people in this town. The likelihood that Heather is one of the closeted ones… I don’t know exactly, but it doesn’t seem very likely to me.”

Cheryl sighed. “I shouldn’t tell her. Should I?”

“Probably not,” Toni answered. “You can, but… in my limited experience, it can ruin friendships.” Cheryl leaned back against the wall, no longer thinking about how unclean it was, and took another bite of her burger. She zoned out a little bit, her mind wandering and feeling sorry for herself. Eventually, Toni let out a little sigh. “There are ways you can test the waters, though.”

Cheryl looked curiously at the girl. “Without being obvious?”

Toni shrugged. “You could try just like… mentioning the idea of being with a girl, at the very least. See how she feels about that sort of thing. Speaking as a bi girl, sometimes it’s just easier to date dudes to avoid the drama of feeling super vulnerable, especially in a small town like this.”

Cheryl nodded slowly. “That’s a good idea. I’ve never thought to mention anything like that, because…”

“You’re worried it’ll be obvious.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, don’t say it like a hypothetical. Maybe… I don’t know, bring up a gay TV character or something, or say you saw some girls who were dating each other or something. Just see how she reacts. If you bring out the hypotheticals, you’ll get caught,” Toni said.

Cheryl took a sip of her strawberry milkshake, looking at Toni. It was pretty dark out, but the moon and stars gave out enough light for Cheryl to see Toni and her colorful hair. “Why are you helping me?”

Toni shrugged. “There aren’t many not-straight girls in Riverdale. We’ve gotta stick together, right? And… I didn’t have anyone to talk to about this sort of thing when I was realizing my sexuality. It sucked.”

“Well… thank you.”

They were quiet for another few moments as Cheryl ate a little more food. Then, Toni wondered, “Hey, how did you know I’d even be at the Wyrm?”

Cheryl swallowed her bite of food and answered, “I went to Pop’s, and ran into Sweet Pea. He told me.”

“You asked him where I was?” Toni asked, smirking a little.

Cheryl shrugged. “Yeah, well. I wanted to talk to you about all this. Like you said… it sucks not having anyone to talk to.” Toni nodded, and then pulled out her phone. She tapped on the screen a few times, and then held it out to Cheryl.

“Well, how about next time you need to talk, you text me?”

For some reason, Cheryl was hesitant to take the phone, but then she did. It was a new contact field, which she filled out and then handed back to Toni, who tapped at her screen a few more times. Cheryl’s phone buzzed in her bag, and she grabbed it.

**Unknown – Hey, Red, it’s Toni.**

“You know you can call me by my name,” Cheryl tutted, saving Toni’s name into her phone. “What’s your last name?”

“Topaz,” Toni answered. “And I know I can, but Red is just so fitting for you. It’s your hair. You’re always wearing red. The lipstick—which you aren’t wearing today.”

Cheryl blinked. “Well, I was home all day until I went to go get Pop’s. I guess I forgot to put it on.” Toni shrugged, and Cheryl took another bite of her burger. Somehow, she was already feeling full, and she didn’t think she would be hungry enough to eat her fries. Glancing down at the bag containing the fries, she grabbed them, and then looked to Toni. “Want fries?”

Toni accepted the bag happily. “Thanks.” She grabbed a fry and tossed it in her mouth. “I haven’t eaten since before my shift.”

“How do you work as a bartender? Are you eighteen?”

Toni snorted. “No, but they don’t give a fuck there. I’m good at the job, so I do it. I mean, Hog Eye owns it, and he’s pretty nice and also kinda stupid, so that’s probably part of the reason. But in the Serpents, age doesn’t really matter. If you can do a job, you do it.” Cheryl just nodded, and Toni ate another fry. “I bet you’ve never worked a day in your life, huh?”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at the other girl. “No. _But_ , I’m the head cheerleader, and I basically run that team.”

Toni laughed, shaking her head. “Damn.”

“It’s not my fault that I was born into a family that has enough money for me to not work,” Cheryl snapped, taking offense.

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “I know that. It’s not my fault that I was born into a family who lives on the Southside, either. None of us picks the life we get stuck with.”

Cheryl realized that she had just allowed her own words to be used against her, so she didn’t try and argue. She just nodded. Toni did have a point. She took the last bite of her burger, and washed it down with some of her milkshake.

“I should probably get home,” Cheryl said, gathering her trash.

Toni nodded. “Probably. I guess I should, too. Thanks for the fries.”

“You’re welcome,” Cheryl responded curtly. “And, uh, thank you for letting me talk, and for the advice.”

They both were standing now, and they started to go back into the alleyway. “No problem. You’ve gotta let me know how it goes with Heather, okay? Testing the waters.”

“I will,” Cheryl assured her. When they reentered the alleyway, Toni turned around to recover the hole with the junk by the wall, and then they headed back toward the White Wyrm in silence. When they reached the parking lot, Cheryl gave Toni a little wave. “Bye.”

“Bye, Red,” Toni returned, getting on her motorcycle as Cheryl got into her car.

As she drove away, she smiled a little to herself. Maybe Toni was a Serpent from the Southside, and maybe she was a little annoying, but she seemed to have the potential to be a decent friend. And Cheryl wasn’t used to having many friends, so the idea that she maybe had a new one was nice.

Her next thought was to tell Heather about her strange night on the Southside, but then she realized that she wouldn’t be able to come up with a reason that she was talking to Toni to cover up the real reason. She wasn’t great at lying to Heather, nor did she really want to put in the effort to try to. So she would just keep the whole thing a secret. She didn’t need to know about the incident with her car on Friday, and she definitely didn’t need to know that Cheryl had randomly met up with a Serpent she’d met two times in a sketchy alleyway behind a grungy Southside bar.

No, no one needed to know about it. She did, after all, have a reputation to uphold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, so Choni now has access to contacting each other!  
> Do not be fooled by how quickly this moment as come, this is still going to be a slow burn nonetheless. I know in the past, I've been a bad judge of when my stories are slow burns, but I promise this time, it's slow. And it burns. I'm sooo excited for y'all to get to read more of this.  
> Please feel free to leave comments, I love reading and replying to them and I appreciate them so much! Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana! I tweet there about fanfic and also just my life and whatnot.  
> Anyway, thank you all for spending some time reading this update of What A Time :) I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day, remember that you can always celebrate it with yourself - practice some self-love. Do a face mask, take a hot bath, take yourself out to a movie, order yourself some fancy food. Self-love is the most important love, don't neglect it this Valentine's Day <3


	4. and we stayed up for hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl attempts to take some of Toni's advice, but ultimately ends up going against her better judgment. Later in the week, she seeks out Toni again as she finds herself feeling even more down about Heather and Cody's budding relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning everyone! Happy Sunday! I started off the day with a really good breakfast (breakfast potatoes, tofu scramble, and Soyrizo which is actually really good) and I decided to update sort of early in the day, because later I'm off to a friend's birthday party. And at some point, I need to be studying for an exam I have tomorrow. It's a busy day haha.  
> Anyway! Thank you all for your comments on the last chapter! In this chapter, Choni is getting more friendly, yay!  
> Enjoy!xx

It was Wednesday after school, and after Vixens practice, and Cheryl and Heather were at Heather’s house. When they hung out, they usually did so at the Wright’s house and not at Thornhill, mostly because Cheryl’s parents were absolute nightmares, but also partially because Cheryl hated when Jason would interrupt them to try and flirt with Heather.

Cheryl and Heather were both sitting on Heather’s bed, the blonde on her laptop at the end of the bed, and the redhead on her phone, leaning against the headboard. Heather was supposedly writing a paper for English, but in reality, she was nonstop gushing about Cody.

“He’s actually really sweet,” she was in the middle of saying, “like… I don’t know, most guys, after we hook up, they only text me for sex after. But he texted me on Sunday asking how I was, and we texted back and forth like, all day. And the past few days, he keeps texting me, and now we have an _actual_ date on Friday. Not some party, a _date_.”

Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “Where are you going?”

“Pop’s,” Heather answered. “It’s lowkey enough but also on the Northside, so a compromise.”

“He doesn’t like the Northside?” Cheryl asked.

Heather shrugged. “Why would he? We hate the Southside, people on the Southside hate the Northside. It’s just how it works. But that doesn’t mean people on either side can’t date each other. Look at Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper. They make it work.”

“Yeah, but Jughead lived on the Northside when he was younger. He’s like a weird, half-breed,” Cheryl said, making a face. Heather laughed at that.

“Well. Regardless, Cody's really sweet. And I think he might actually be, like, interested in _dating_ me. Which like, _finally_! I just needed to go to the Southside to find a good guy,” Heather said, shaking her head. Cheryl bit back a remark that she wanted to make—that Cody was the first guy on the Southside Heather even talked to. She held it back, because she knew it would upset her best friend.

“That’s good,” Cheryl said, thinking about how she could bring up what she and Toni had talked about on Sunday. They hadn’t talked since then, because Cheryl had no idea what to text her until she’d actually followed through with the advice Toni had given her. She had been thinking about what to say to bring it up, and she had settled on something that she thought seemed lowkey enough.

“You okay, Cher?” Heather asked, looking up at her, and Cheryl realized that she’d gone silent.

“Oh yeah, fine,” Cheryl answered, glancing back at her phone. “I just saw this Instagram post,” the beginning of the lie, “that this girl our age, this daughter of a family friend, just came out as a lesbian.” She said it with surprise in her voice.

“Oh really?” Heather sounded equally surprised, and raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah. Can you even imagine dating a girl?” Cheryl heard the words more than she felt herself say them, and she almost flinched at her own question.

Heather shrugged. “I guess so, but I don’t think that’s for me. I’m happy for her though, everyone should live their authentic self and all that.” Cheryl tried not to deflate at hearing that answer.

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, hoping she didn’t sound disheartened. She went on scrolling through her Instagram as Heather started typing at her computer.

“It’d probably be fun to try it at some point though,” Heather said suddenly, surprising Cheryl.

“Huh?” Cheryl asked, not sure she’d heard that correctly.

Heather shrugged. “Everyone experiments in college, right? I bet it would be fun to try. I can’t imagine being the person actually _doing_ anything, though. Sounds gross to me.”

Cheryl nodded. “Yeah, it’d be really weird.” This had been a bad idea. It was better to be in the dark about Heather’s thoughts on sexuality. She shouldn’t have brought it up.

Feeling frustrated, she switched over to her text messages app to text Toni. She knew that Heather was right there, and that it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to text about her right now, but the other option was the abruptly leave, because she knew that she wouldn’t get this out of her head until she talked to Toni about it.

**Cheryl – Hey. I brought it up with her. She said “I guess” about whether she could imagine it, but said she doesn’t think it’s for her. But then she said she’d like to try experimenting in college…**

She switched out of the app and went back to Instagram, not expecting to hear back from Toni immediately, but about five seconds later, a little notification popped up, indicating she’d received a text from the Serpent.

**Toni – Ooh, yikes. Yeah, that’s probably not a good sign. Straight girls wanting to experiment are NOT a good idea.**

**Cheryl – What if she just… doesn’t know yet? Maybe she’s never thought about it before now.**

**Toni – Look, Red, if she’s never thought about it until now, she probably isn’t gay. I’m not trying to disappoint you, it just seems unlikely. Right?**

**Cheryl – Yeah. Just… it’s like you said, there aren’t many non-straight girls in Riverdale. So.**

**Toni – So it’s hard, trust me I know.**

**Cheryl – But you date guys too.**

**Toni – Yeah, and the guys of Riverdale suck. Especially on the Southside. They’re all a bunch of maniacs, honestly.**

**Cheryl – Funny, Heather seems to disagree. She’s swooning over Cody.**

**Toni – To be fair, I don’t know Cody that well. He’s a newer Serpent. I’m a Serpent by blood, so I grew up around the tightknit center of the gang.**

**Cheryl – So you’re saying that the center Serpents are all maniacs?**

**Toni – I’m saying the GUYS are. Don’t put words in my mouth, Red.**

**Cheryl – Oh my bad. How many girls are even in the Serpents?**

**Toni – Quite a few actually. Although, the Serpents are a bit sexist. The initiation for girls into the gang is like… really fucked up. I mean, it’s not as bad as getting beaten up by all your friends, but still.**

**Cheryl – Wait, I’m confused, what’s the initiation for girls? What’s the initiation for guys? I don’t know any of this stuff.**

**Toni – Lol, I’ll tell you about it another time, Red. I don’t know if you’d look at me the same way once you find out.**

**Cheryl – Okay… whatever that means.**

**Cheryl – Anyway. What do I do about Heather?**

**Toni – Um… I don’t know. If she’s not into girls, she’s not into girls. If you don’t wanna tell her about your feelings since it’ll risk your friendship, I still think the best thing to do is to leave it be. Try to stop having feelings for her.**

**Cheryl – How do you just stop having feelings for someone?**

**Toni – I told you on Sunday. Spend some time apart, hang out with other people. Try to find things about her that turn you off or that make her less good of a person. I’m sure that won’t be too hard. She’s a Northsider after all.**

**Cheryl – Wow, thanks for that.**

**Toni – No problem :)**

**Cheryl – You’re infuriating.**

**Toni – Well you keep talking to me, soooo…**

“Hey, do you wanna order pizza?” Heather said suddenly. “I’m almost done with this paper, but I desperately need a food break.”

Cheryl opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t know what to say. Should she say no, make up an excuse to go home, and try to take Toni’s next piece of advice and distance herself from her friend? That is probably what she should do. “Sure,” she said, completely going against her better judgement.

Maybe she should be distancing herself from Heather, but Cheryl was used to getting what she wanted. And despite the advice Toni was giving her, she wanted to believe that she could get this too.

So she and Heather ordered pizza, and they hung out until late, when Cheryl finally went home. She wasn’t sure what to do about all of this, but she knew that she couldn’t just stop hanging out with her best friend.

Which is why she didn’t text Toni for the rest of the week, at least not until Friday night. When Heather was on her date with Cody, and Cheryl allowed herself to be dragged out to a party at Reggie Mantle’s house by Veronica, who insisted that they could have fun at a party even while Heather was out on a date. Heather had told Veronica about the date, but hadn’t said who the guy was, but Veronica didn’t seem interested to find out anyway.

So, Cheryl found herself with too many drinks in her system, dancing with Veronica to shitty music around a bunch of sweaty football players. Jason was somewhere at the party too, but Cheryl couldn’t be bothered to even say hi to him. She was only here because Veronica had insisted that she come along, but really, she would rather have stayed home. That was apparently becoming a trend for her after the previous weekend of parties, and she didn’t know what was changing.

Except, she did. She knew that all of this stuff with Heather was stressing her out and making her a bit more antisocial. She couldn’t talk to Veronica about what was on her mind, which is really what she needed to do.

Which is why, when Veronica was busy dancing with Reggie, she slipped away to a bathroom to text the one person she could talk to.

**Cheryl – Are you busy?**

**Toni – Oh wow, you’re talking to me again. I thought I jinxed it last time and you decided Southside scum wasn’t worth your time.**

**Cheryl – I really need to get away from everything.**

**Toni – Okay. Well. I can meet you behind the White Wyrm? But you should bring food to make it worth MY time.**

**Cheryl – Deal.**

**Toni – I’ll meet you there, then.**

Cheryl left the bathroom and hurried to leave the house, hoping she wouldn’t run into Veronica on her way out. Unfortunately, Veronica seemed to be on her way to the bathroom right as Cheryl was heading away from it. “Oh, hey Cheryl. You good?”

“I feel sick,” Cheryl lied, “so I’m going to leave.”

“Oh, okay. I hope you feel better,” Veronica said with a frown.

“Thanks.” Cheryl hurried past her and finally left the house. Lying to people was all too easy.

Cheryl scrambled into her car and pulled out onto the street, starting her drive to the Southside. It wasn’t until she was almost to the White Wyrm did she realize that she forgot to grab any food, and that was also when she remembered that she was _drunk_ , and that she shouldn’t have even gotten into her car.

Groaning, she parked her car at the Wyrm, clambered out, and started back toward the alley. She should’ve been scared to make the walk alone, but she was more drunk than she’d originally thought while she was at the party. Hopefully, Toni wouldn’t be mad that she forgot food.

When she got to the hole in the wall, she noticed that it was partially uncovered, so she knew to expect Toni to already be there as she crawled in. “Hi,” she muttered as she entered. Toni glanced at her, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Hey what gives? I thought I was getting food.”

Cheryl sighed, straightening up and then almost stumbling over. “Yeah, I forgot.”

“How did you forget? We were texting like, not even fifteen minutes ago.”

“I’m maybe a little bit drunk,” Cheryl told Toni.

“Oh really, I couldn’t tell,” Toni deadpanned, as Cheryl sat down on one of the crates to avoid almost falling over again. “Well, you owe me food, alright?” Cheryl nodded. “So, what happened?”

“Nothing. Well, Heather is on a date. With Cody.”

Toni hummed thoughtfully. “Wow, when you said she was swooning over him, I didn’t realize that meant that they were like, legit dating. That’s kind of surprising coming from Cody. I don’t know him _that_ well, but I know that much.”

“You don’t think it’ll last?” Cheryl asked, to which Toni just shrugged. “Well, I went to a party with Veronica, but I just… I can’t have fun. Not knowing what she’s doing, and knowing how I feel. I can’t have fun anymore.”

Toni frowned. “Oh come on, you have to be able to have fun without _her_. A crush is one thing, Red, but you are describing severe codependency.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Hey, I’m being serious.”

“It’s not that I _can’t_ have fun without her,” Cheryl argued. “It’s just… I’m too upset to have fun.”

Toni sighed, and they sat in silence for a moment. Cheryl was getting lost in her thoughts by the time Toni let out another puff of air, and stood up. “Come on, Red.”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “What? Where are we going?” She stood up, though, despite not knowing what Toni was talking about.

“We are going to have _fun_ ,” Toni answered, giving her a small smile. “ _Without_ your friend.”

Cheryl followed Toni out of the hole, and back into the alley, and then Cheryl almost stumbled again, but Toni caught her hand, holding fast and strong to keep her steady. The alcohol in Cheryl’s system made the touch feel like electricity, but it only lasted a moment, because Toni released her to cover the hole back up.

Toni lead Cheryl further away from the White Wyrm, further down the alley, until they reached the street on the other side.

“Where are we going?”

“You ever heard of the Twilight Drive-In?” Toni asked, glancing at Cheryl.

“Um… I think so. Jughead Jones used to work there.”

Toni nodded. “Yeah. Until it closed last year. But, it’s basically been turned into a junkyard, nothing ever actually gotten taken down from it. So there’s still a screen, still a projector…”

“So why aren’t we driving there?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve established that you are drunk, and you really shouldn’t have even driven all the way here. And I have a feeling that you don’t want me to drive your car?” Cheryl nodded, that was true, she didn’t let anyone drive her car. Toni chuckled. “Plus, like I said, it’s basically been turned into a junk yard. It’s no place for cars anymore. Come on, Red.”

Toni led her down a couple more streets and through a few alleys, and Cheryl didn’t feel any fear the entire time. She knew that was because of the alcohol, but also, she knew that Toni wearing her Serpent jacket gave them some amount of protection here. It was weird, the thought of the gang had never made her feel safe before now.

They reached the Drive-In not too long later, but the whole place was surrounded by a metal fence. “How are we supposed to get in there?”

Toni glanced at her, an amused expression on her face. “Well, there’s a hole we can slip through, but it’s on the whole other side. So, it’s probably easier if we climb over.”

“ _Climb_? Did you already forget that I’m _drunk_?”

Toni laughed at that, pushing some of her colorful hair over her shoulder. “I’ll go before you, so you can follow what I do, okay?” Cheryl wasn’t convinced that was any better than Cheryl going first, but she didn’t argue. She just stepped back to give Toni room to start climbing. The smaller girl had no problem climbing up the first couple of feet of the fence, and then she looked down at Cheryl. “Just follow what I do, and when I get to the top, I’ll help you up the rest of the way. Getting down the other side is easy.”

“If you say so,” Cheryl muttered, and she began to follow Toni up the fence. It wasn’t as terrifying as she thought it would be, and after only a few steps up, Toni was at the top, hand extended down to help Cheryl up. Cheryl accepted the hand, feeling the same electricity as earlier, and was surprised at the strength Toni had as she helped pull Cheryl up onto the top of the fence.

Cheryl straddled the top of the fence, holding onto the top of it with both hands, and felt the chilly breeze going through her hair. She closed her eyes, taking in a breath through her nose, and feeling the peace of the night. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she heard Toni ask her. She shook her head, opening her eyes again. “So now, we jump down this side.”

“We _jump_?” Cheryl asked incredulously.

Toni just grinned at her, and then hopped off the fence down to the ground. She landed sturdily on both of her feet, and then turned around to look up at Cheryl. “You coming or not, Red?”

Cheryl carefully pulled her leg over so that she was sitting on the top of the fence, facing the Drive-In. She took in a breath, and then pushed herself off, jumping down to the ground. She let out a squeal, and when she landed, she nearly fell over, but Toni was there to steady to her.

“Okay?” Toni asked, to which Cheryl nodded. “Good. Come on.” She led Cheryl through the Drive-In, and Cheryl realized that she’d been right. There was a lot of junk lying around the ground, but there was, in fact, still a screen up. It had some tears in it, but it seemed mostly intact.

Toni guided her to the projection box. “What’s even here to play?”

“I think mostly some old black and white movies that no one cares about,” Toni answered. “I’m just gonna turn it on and see what plays, I think something is probably already hooked up to it.”

“How do you know how to work it?” Cheryl wondered, as Toni started messing with the projector.

“I happen to be interested in film and photography,” Toni informed her, “so I’m used to working with stuff like this.”

Cheryl didn’t know why she was so surprised to learn this about Toni. Maybe because she was a Serpent, and Cheryl was pretty sure that all Serpents were drug dealers and only participated in gang activity. She couldn’t picture this girl in school or taking pictures for fun. “Oh.”

Toni chuckled. “Surprise, I do things other than bartend and go to parties.” Cheryl didn’t say anything, and Toni finished turning on the projector. Suddenly, a black and white movie was playing against the big screen. “Bingo. Come on, let’s get a good seat.”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but followed Toni as she lead them out of the projection box and over to one of the biggest piles of junk. In the center of it was an old truck with busted windows and flat tires. Cheryl was sure there was numerous other things wrong with it, but one thing that was intact was its bed. It had some stuff sitting in it, but Toni hopped up onto it anyway, tossing out some trash and things. Then, she sat down, leaning against the back window, and patted the spot next to her.

“You coming or not, Red?”

Cheryl carefully maneuvered through some of the trash on the ground and then pulled herself up onto the bed of the truck, joining Toni and leaning against the back window. It was a good view of the screen, but Cheryl had no idea what was even happening in the movie. It seemed to have started in the middle, and it was so old that there was only music, no words. “This is going to be a boring movie,” Cheryl stated flatly.

Toni chuckled. “Do you mind if I smoke?” Cheryl looked at the girl with furrowed eyebrows. “What? It’s weed, not tobacco.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “That’s not the point, but go ahead, I guess.” Toni smirked a little, and then pulled a small bag out of her pocket. Inside was a rolled joint, which Toni promptly took out of the bag. She then grabbed a lighter out of her other pocket, lit the joint, and took a hit.

Cheryl turned away as she blew out the smoke, looking back at the screen. “Have you ever tried it?” Toni asked, drawing a surprised expression from Cheryl.

“What? Weed?” she asked. Toni nodded, lifting an eyebrow. “No, I haven’t.”

Toni extended the joint toward her. “Want to?” Cheryl hesitated, glancing at the little roll of paper and weed. “You don’t have to, but you said you wanted to have fun… but seriously, no pressure.”

Cheryl looked back at the girl, surprised at how considerate she sounded in this moment. Cheryl was used to facing pressure from all of the people in her life, and not very often did someone give her an option without pressuring her one way or the other. It was a nice change.

Maybe that was why she accepted the joint from Toni, who then said something about how to best take her first hit—something about not holding in the smoke too long. Cheryl wasn’t sure she caught all of it, because she was distracted by the nerves she was having about even trying it at all. Taking in a little breath, she brought the joint up to her lips, and sucked in.

“Whoa, not too much, Red,” Toni said, chuckling. Cheryl pulled the joint away from her, and then released the smoke out of her mouth. She felt a weird, smoky, warmth in her throat, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. But somehow, it didn’t end in sputtering coughs, which was what Cheryl was expecting, and apparently what Toni was expecting too. “Wow, you sure you haven’t done that before?”

“I think I’d know if I had.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “I just meant, you did it so smoothly. How was it?”

Cheryl shrugged. “Not too bad, actually.” She handed the joint back to Toni. “I don’t feel anything, though.”

“It’s like alcohol, it’ll take a little bit of time to make you feel anything,” Toni told her. She took another hit from the joint, and Cheryl relaxed against the truck, looking up at the movie. Somehow, this was the most at peace Cheryl had felt all week—sitting in the middle of a closed and abandoned Drive-In on the Southside, watching a movie she couldn’t follow, next to a girl who was part of the biggest gang in Riverdale.

After a little while, Cheryl started to feel really relaxed, and she realize that the weed was probably causing that. “This is nice,” she heard herself say. It was the first thing either of them had said in a while, and it drew Toni’s attention.

“Yeah? Having fun?”

Cheryl felt herself smile a little. “Actually, yes.”

“It’s the weed,” Toni joked.

“Definitely,” Cheryl agreed, although she wasn’t really sure she believed that.

They stayed at the Drive-In, occasionally making fun of the movie, but other than that, they stayed silent. It was a peaceful silence, though, and Cheryl appreciated it. And when credits started rolling, Cheryl let out a breath, glancing at Toni, who had put away her joint a little while ago. “Ready to head back?” Toni asked her.

Cheryl nodded, and they clambered off of the truck. Despite now having weed in her system, she felt actually more sober than before, a bit more steady on her feet. She had next to no problem climbing back over the fence behind Toni, and when they hopped down the other side of the fence, she landed more or less just fine.

They started the walk back to the White Wyrm, and soon enough, they were in front of the bar, and walking toward Cheryl’s car. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea if you drive, Red…”

“Well, I can’t leave my car here,” Cheryl said. “Don’t worry, I feel a little less drunk now, it’s been a while since I had any drinks.”

Toni nodded. “Alright, but this is the _only_ time I’m ever letting you drive drunk. Okay? Next time, ask me, and I’ll pick you up or something.”

“Yeah, good luck getting me to get on that death trap,” Cheryl clipped, looking over at Toni’s motorcycle.

“That’s interesting, coming from the girl whose car has died at least two times in the past couple of weeks,” Toni bit back, lifting an eyebrow.

Cheryl heard herself laugh a little, shaking her head. “Okay, I should go.”

“Don’t forget you owe me food, Red,” Toni said, backing away from Cheryl’s car as the redhead started to get into it.

“I won’t,” Cheryl called back.

Cheryl closed her car door, started the car, and drove off. She did find it pretty easy to make her way back home, feeling more sober than her drive to the White Wyrm.

When she got home, she had a text waiting for her on her phone.

**Toni – Tell me when you get home, so I know that you didn’t wreck your beautiful car.**

**Cheryl – I’m home.**

**Toni – Good. Get some sleep, Red.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, I will.**

Cheryl went inside and up to her room, getting ready for bed quickly and then crawling into her four poster bed, wrapping up in her silk sheets. She looked back at her phone. Toni hadn’t responded, so she sent one more text.

**Cheryl – Thank you for tonight.**

It took a second, but that got Toni to respond.

**Toni – You’re welcome.**

That made Cheryl smile a little, and she plugged her phone in on her nightstand, curling up in bed and letting her eyelids fall closed. And she fell asleep quickly, without even a thought about what her best friend was doing right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick disclaimer: Please don't drive drunk ever, don't pull a Cheryl lol.  
> I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day filled with lots of self-love <3 I saw Birds of Prey and it was badass!  
> Thank you all for reading this update! I loved reading your comments on the last chapter, please feel free to leave any more that you may have! As soon as I have time, I plan on rewriting some of this story into Toni's POV with the hope of eventually posting it. Unfortunately, I've had zero time to write anything lately, which is why I'm glad I wrote this whole thing again of time haha.  
> I hope you all have a great week, thank you again for reading, commenting, kudosing, etc! See you all on Thursday! :D


	5. messing with my head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after her drunken night at the Drive-In, Cheryl tries to distract herself from the fact that Heather hasn't texted her by agreeing to go with Jason to a lunch out with the Vixens and the Bulldogs. Then, once Heather finally answers her, she gets to spend the rest of Saturday with her best friend, but of course, doing so leads her to text a certain Serpent once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goooood morning! Gotta say, I'm so ready for this week to be over. It's been a lot of downs, unfortunately. But with updating this story comes a little up, so that's good :)  
> I feel we're finally getting to the really fun stuff in this story! :D I hope you all enjoy this chapter! x

“You were out late last night, huh?” Jason asked as he entered the dining room with a plate of breakfast on Saturday morning. Cheryl looked up from her plate of food to narrow her eyes at him.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” she stated.

Jason shrugged. “Were you out with Heather?”

“No, I wasn’t. She was on a date with, hmm, who was it again… oh right, _not you_ ,” Cheryl snapped at him.

“Geez, someone is angry this morning,” Jason commented, setting his plate down and joining her at the table. Thankfully, neither of their parents were downstairs yet, otherwise Cheryl would be leaving despite only being halfway done with her breakfast. “I just asked a question.”

“Sorry,” Cheryl apologized. The truth was, she was a little bit on edge this morning, mostly because she had a slight hangover, but also because she’d never received a text from Heather last night or this morning to let her know that she was okay after her date. The first thing Cheryl had done upon realizing that this morning was text her best friend, and she had yet to receive a response.

“Well, the football team and some of the Vixens are going to Pop’s for lunch later, if you wanna join,” Jason said, surprising Cheryl with the invitation. They usually didn’t invite each other to anything, though they ended up at lot of the same parties anyway.

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at her twin brother. “What do you want?”

“I want us to be friends again,” he answered, sounding relatively genuine. “I know Heather drove a wedge between us, but I’ve been thinking about how stupid it was to let her do that.”

“She didn’t do that,” Cheryl defended.

Jason gave her a weird look. “She kind of did. Well, definitely with help from you, but I didn’t want to lose my sister because of it.”

“Come on, Jason, you can’t really care that much,” Cheryl said, still hesitant to trust her brother.

“See? How did this happen? You don’t even trust that I actually just want to hang out with you,” Jason said in exasperation. “Look, I know that there’s other reasons for you to be angry with me. Like how mom and dad focus on me more than you. But I don’t want that, I didn’t ask for that. We used to be so close, Cheryl.”

Cheryl sighed. “Okay, I’ll come with you and the team and the Vixens. I should make an appearance anyway. I haven’t been out with the squad in a while.”

Jason smiled. “Cool. And feel free to invite Heather, or don’t. I swear, I’m not just doing this to get close to her or anything.” Cheryl narrowed her eyes at him. “I swear!”

“Why is this coming up all of the sudden?” she questioned, the last part of her investigation into this anomaly.

Jason sighed. “Someone from the school paper came up to me and asked why you and I never talk—they were writing some article about Riverdale High drama. And I realized that I didn’t have a good reason. And I _miss_ my _sister_ , is that so bad?”

Cheryl shook her head. “No, that’s not bad.”

He smiled, and Cheryl returned the smile. They sat in silence for the rest of their meal, and thankfully, right as Penelope Blossom entered the room, Cheryl was finishing up her food. “Good morning, JJ,” Penelope greeted sweetly, then looking at Cheryl and adding, “Cheryl.”

“Morning, mother,” Cheryl returned flatly, standing up to clear her plate.

“Was that you I heard come in so late last night?” Penelope asked her.

“Maybe.”

“Where on Earth were you so late?”

“At Veronica’s,” Cheryl lied. It was very far from the truth, but she _had_ seen Veronica the night before, so it wasn’t _too_ big of a stretch. Not that she cared to what extent she lied to her mother.

“You’d do well to start obeying your curfew, Cheryl,” Penelope snapped at her. Cheryl ignored her, walking her dishes into the kitchen. “Cheryl! Did you hear me?”

“I heard you,” she called back. She set her dishes in the sink and headed upstairs.

Once she was locked in her room, she texted her brother to clarify the plans for the day.

**Cheryl – So what time are we leaving for Pop’s?**

**JJ – We can leave here at noon.**

**Cheryl – Alright.**

**JJ – You want to ride with me?**

**Cheryl – No, we can go separately. So I can have my car with me.**

**JJ – Cool.**

Cheryl collapsed into her bed. She hadn’t finished getting ready for the day yet, but she needed a second to rest before she could gather the energy. She hadn’t realized how much she drank at the party the night before until she woke up this morning. She wasn’t really sure how the weed had affected her, because she’d already been pretty drunk.

Drunk or not, though, she remembered the previous night, and how fun it actually had been. Toni was proving to be a decent friend, even beyond the advice that Cheryl had sought from her a week ago.

She accidentally dozed off as she laid on her bed, but she awoke with plenty of time to shower and ready herself for the day. It was almost noon by the time she finished her makeup and was fully dressed, so she headed downstairs to meet up with her brother.

They drove in their separate cars to Pop’s, where multiple cars belonging to cheerleaders and football players were parked outside. Cheryl and Jason walked into the diner side by side, something that was definitely new for them, and joined the Vixens and football players. Neither Heather, nor Veronica, were there, but they didn’t usually hang out with all of the other Vixens either.

“Hey, Cheryl,” Reggie said to her, “haven’t seen you at any of our hangouts in a while.”

“Yes, well, I’ve been busy,” Cheryl stated.

A waiter came over and took their order, and Cheryl got her usual burger, fries, and shake, and then whatever conversation had been going on among the group started up again.

It somehow turned to a conversation about who was dating who at Riverdale High, and one of the Vixens said, “I heard that Heather had a date last night, but I couldn’t figure out who with. Any guy she probably would’ve gone out with was at Reggie’s party last night.”

“Yeah, and she definitely wasn’t at my place last night,” Reggie confirmed, “I would’ve definitely known if she was there, I mean, who wouldn’t?” The other guys laughed and nodded in agreement, and Cheryl’s eyebrows knitted together. She didn’t like the way they were talking about her best friend.

“Do you know who she was out with, Cheryl?” one of the girls asked. “You and her are like best friends, right? You _have_ to know.”

“I don’t,” Cheryl lied. “I think he’s from Greendale or something. I’ve never met him.” They all believed her lies—as per usual.

“Hey Cheryl,” one of the guys, Chuck Clayton, said suddenly, “you looking to get some action? I heard it’s been a while since you did.”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at him. “Excuse me?”

“Just saying. People been saying maybe you got something against the Bulldogs, or, I don’t know, guys in general.” Chuck smirked at his own words, and Cheryl felt her face trying to turn red in anger and embarrassment. She knew what he was implying, and she didn’t want him to think that he was right.

Even if he was.

“Oh shut up,” Jason spoke up for her, “that’s my sister, okay? Chill out.”

“Easy to forget she’s your sister, man,” Reggie said, “you two are like, never even interacting.”

“The point is, Cheryl, if you need a man to do you right, you can always call me,” Chuck said, winking at her.

“Oh shut up, you disgusting troglodyte,” Cheryl snapped at him. “You are the last person I would ever dream of calling.”

Chuck snorted with a bit of laughter, but he looked somewhat pissed off at the same time. “I bet you’re _dirty_ in the bedroom.”

“Alright, man, that’s enough,” Jason snapped, finally shutting Chuck up.

Cheryl sat in silence for most of the rest of the lunch. She got her food and distracted herself by eating. And as soon as she was done, she handed some cash to Jason for him to pay for her food, and gave a curt goodbye to the group as she left.

She felt humiliated.

She sat in her car as she texted Heather.

**Cheryl – Hey, you still haven’t answered me. Are you okay? The only reason I haven’t called the police yet is because I know your mom is paranoid and would’ve done it if you hadn’t contacted her yet.**

**Cheryl – Also, I need to talk to you about organizing a public shaming of Chuck Clayton.**

Before Cheryl could even put her phone down, she had received a reply from her best friend.

**Heather – Sorry, sorry, I’ve been asleep until about half an hour ago and I just looked at my phone. I got home REALLY late and needed to catch up on sleep.**

**Heather – Also, what’s got you in burn-the-witch mode??**

**Cheryl – I was just at lunch with some of the Vixens and the Bulldogs. And he made some crude comments to me, and I’m ready to destroy him.**

**Heather – Shit, I always knew he was an asshole, but he must be an idiot too to go after you.**

**Heather – I’ll text the Vixens and tell them that he’s on the to-be-ignored list. We’ll get it out to other school groups too, not that he ever bothers to talk to anyone other than cheerleaders.**

**Cheryl – Thank you.**

**Heather – You wanna come over? I have so much to tell you about my date!**

Cheryl sighed, knowing that she shouldn’t, but also knowing that she wanted to. And it was hard to stop herself from going for what she wanted.

That’s how she found herself at Heather’s not too long later, listening to the blonde go on and on about Cody and their date and how great it was.

Cheryl was only half paying attention, nodding along and commenting when she felt like something had sounded important. Then, Heather asked her, “So, how was the party at Reggie’s?”

“It was fun,” Cheryl said, shrugging. “I got pretty wasted, to be honest. Then I accidentally drove home drunk.”

“Cheryl!” Heather exclaimed, but she was laughing. “You should really try to not do that.”

“It’s okay, I’d sobered up a bit by the time I went home,” Cheryl answered.

“That’s good,” Heather said. “I guess it’s not like there’s lots of traffic on a Friday night in _Riverdale_.” Cheryl nodded along. “Hey, are you okay? You’ve seemed kind of spacey this whole time. Actually, you’ve seemed pretty spacey all week.”

“Oh,” Cheryl said, feeling alarmed now that she’d been caught. “Yeah. I guess… I don’t know, maybe I’ve felt a little bit lonely.”

Heather frowned. “Aw, wait, because of me and Cody?” Cheryl shrugged. “Come on, Cher, you know I always have time for you. How about we go to a movie tonight or something?”

Cheryl could practically hear a voice in the back of her head telling her “No, don’t do it, keep your distance, Cheryl!” Maybe the voice was even Toni’s, but Cheryl blocked it out, because hanging out with her best friend and watching a movie actually sounded fun. Crush or not, she wanted to hang out with her best friend.

So she did, and that night, they went out to a movie and then bought a pizza and brought it back to Heather’s house. And they ate it in her room while watching stupid videos online, and Cheryl forgot all of the negative feelings she’d been having all week. She reveled in getting to hear Heather’s laugh and feeling like she was the center of her world.

Before they knew it, it was close to two in the morning, and Heather’s laptop screen flickered and then went black. “Oh shit, I didn’t realize it was dying,” Heather said, shaking her head. “Oh well, we should probably sleep anyway. You wanna just sleep here?”

Toni’s voice was back in Cheryl’s head, telling her the right answer. Finally, she listened to it. “I should probably just go home.”

Heather gave her a pout. “Aw, come on, little cherry. Don’t leave me all alone.”

Cheryl heard herself sigh. “Okay, fine.” So they got ready for bed, and then Cheryl found herself laying in the dark bedroom, just a few inches away from Heather.

She knew when her friend had fallen asleep, because her breathing evened out and her body was completely still. But Cheryl was still wide awake. She’d never had this problem when sleeping over at Heather’s, but now it was like she could feel tension in the air. Tension that, evidently, Heather wasn’t able to feel.

It was past three in the morning when Cheryl gave up on trying to sleep, and she grabbed her phone, turning so that she was facing away from Heather so that the light wouldn’t bother her.

She texted the one person she thought might be awake at this time of night.

**Cheryl – I fucked up.**

She waited for a few minutes, but got no response.

**Cheryl – You’re probably asleep. Sorry.**

**Cheryl – I’m in Heather’s bed right now. She’s asleep next to me.**

**Cheryl – Wait, that sounds bad. Nothing happened. I’m just sleeping over here.**

**Cheryl – But I can’t sleep.**

She stopped spamming for a moment, taking a deep breath. She was about to apologize again and put her phone back down, but she saw a little bubble with three dots appear on her screen, and then she got a response.

**Toni – Not asleep, don’t worry. Just got home from work. It was a really late night. Big Serpent party, lots of cleanup.**

**Toni – Sorry you can’t sleep. That kind of thing happens when you let yourself get in that kind of situation, lol.**

**Cheryl – I tried to tell her I should go home, but she pouted and I’ve never been able to say no to that.**

**Toni – No offense to your friend, but she sounds kind of manipulative.**

**Cheryl – Why do you say that??**

**Toni – I don’t know… you’re always there for her, right? How often is she there for you?**

**Cheryl – Always. That’s how being best friends work. Take tonight for example. I told her I’d been feeling lonely this week, and she dropped everything to hang out with me.**

**Toni – And in exchange? You’re going to stand on the sidelines while she continues to get happier and happier with her new boyfriend, right? And every now and then, she’s going to show you the perfect amount of attention to make you forget how shitty you’ve been feeling, and then you’ll feel better. Until you don’t again.**

**Cheryl – You don’t know anything about her.**

**Toni – Whatever you say, Red.**

**Toni – I need to sleep. Next time you text me, it better be to tell me that you’re getting me the food you owe me.**

Cheryl couldn’t tell if Toni was joking or if she was mad, so she hoped it was the former.

**Cheryl – Okay, sorry. Goodnight.**

**Toni – Night.**

At some point, Cheryl finally fell asleep, and when she woke up the next morning, Heather was already up, getting ready.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Heather teased her. “You’re usually the early riser.”

“I guess I was tired,” Cheryl said with a shrug as she sat up.

“Yeah, guess so. Oh, hey, I’m actually going out with Cody for lunch. If you want, you can come with, but I don’t think any of his friends are going to be there,” Heather told her.

“That’s okay, I have homework anyway,” Cheryl said, running her hand through her hair. She knew that Heather was only offering to have Cheryl join them to be nice, she didn’t actually want Cheryl there. But Cheryl was never in the mood to third wheel, so it was easy to pass up the offer anyway.

So once she’d gotten ready, she said goodbye to Heather and wished her a good time on her lunch date, and she left.

On her way out of Heather’s house, she realized that she had a few texts from her mother.

**Mumsy – Cheryl Blossom, did you not come home last night?**

**Mumsy – You know how I feel about that.**

**Mumsy – When you come home, you better come straight to your father’s study. We will not continue to let you ignore the rules so blatantly, you ungrateful child.**

Cheryl rolled her eyes. This was not the first time she’d heard this sort of thing from her mother, and it was not the first time that she would ignore it. Still, the longer she could avoid going home, the easier it would be to get out of trouble.

She considered texting Veronica and asking what she was up to, but then she saw her text thread from the night before, with Toni, and made a decision.

**Cheryl – What do you want for lunch, and where do you want to meet me for it?**

She waited for a minute for a response, hoping that Toni would reply soon, because she was just sitting in her car in front of Heather’s house until she knew where she would be driving to. After about a minute, Toni responded.

**Toni – One of those Pop’s burgers will suffice. And fries, those were good.**

**Toni – We can meet behind the Wyrm again?**

**Cheryl – Okay, I’ll be there in like thirty minutes.**

So Cheryl took off, headed for Pop’s. She hadn’t yet had breakfast, so she ordered herself some food as well, and she also ordered two milkshakes. She didn’t know what flavor Toni would like, but she figured vanilla was safe. With food in tow, she headed to the White Wyrm.

It felt weird to drive up to it so early in the day—no one seemed to be there, in fact, it was probably closed so early. It was just a few minutes after noon, after all, and it was a bar.

Her walk to the hole in the wall wasn’t as scary as it was at night, and it was weird to be able to clearly see all of the junk in the alleyway. The hole was completely blocked when she reached it, so she figured that she’d beaten Toni there. She carefully moved some stuff out of the way, and squeezed through the hole into the space. It looked even dirtier during the day.

Cheryl sat down on one of the crates, separating the two meals she had, setting Toni’s on the other crate. It was only a couple of minutes before Toni ducked through the hole, startling Cheryl. “I didn’t think you’d beat me here,” Toni said, glancing at the food. “You got me a shake?”

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I got you vanilla.”

“Vanilla is good, thanks,” Toni said, going over to the crate and picking up her food in order to sit down.

“I wanted to make up for texting you so late last night. I probably wasn’t in the best headspace. Some shit happened yesterday,” Cheryl told Toni.

“You wanna talk about it?” Toni asked.

Cheryl nodded. “I guess so. This football player, Chuck Clayton, he made a comment about how I don’t hook up with guys very often. He implied that I might be gay, and then told me that if I ever wanted a guy to ‘do me right,’ I could call him. And when I told him I wouldn’t ever dream of calling him, he said something crude, and… ugh, it was infuriating.”

“Damn,” Toni said, covering her mouth as she spoke while eating. She swallowed her bite before she continued, “That’s rough. I’m sorry. He sounds like an asshole.”

“He is. We’re putting him on blast to the school, though, so he’ll get what he deserves.”

Toni raised an eyebrow at that. “You know, you’re kind of scary.”

“I try,” Cheryl responded, taking a bite of her burger, chewing slowly and then swallowing before speaking again. “Anyway, then I went over to Heather’s and had to sit through all the stuff about her date with Cody. But then she asked why I’d been kind of spacey this week, I told her I was feeling lonely, so we went out to a movie and stayed up late eating pizza and hanging out, and then she asked if I wanted to just stay the night. And I said no, but…”

“Yeah, I remember this part of the story,” Toni said, nodding. “I’m telling you, Red. That’s manipulation.”

“It’s not manipulation if I _know_ about it,” Cheryl argued.

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “That makes no sense. It’s manipulation if she does something _knowing_ that she’s going to get her way, and if it takes advantage of you.”

“It doesn’t take advantage of me.”

Toni sighed. “If you say so.”

“You do not know Heather like I do, Toni. We’ve been best friends since we were _five_. She stood up for me when I used to get bullied for being a ‘ginger’ in elementary school. And she used to play with me and my brother Jason all the time, and she always took my side instead of his. And when he tried to date her, she chose me over him. That was a big deal. I trust her.”

“Okay, fine,” Toni said, taking a sip of her milkshake. “You trust her and she’s great and has no flaws, I get it.”

“I didn’t say she has no flaws.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “What are her flaws then, Red?”

Cheryl opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She closed it again—to think—and then finally, she answered, “I mean, she’s too trusting of her heart with boys. She puts her whole self out there after like one date, and it always bites her back later.”

“Okay, what else?”

“I don’t know? She’s not the best at school. I’m on track to be valedictorian, but she’s nowhere close.”

“What else?”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t know..." She took in a breath, trying to think of anything to say. "Some of the Vixens say that she’s not very friendly, but she’s never come off that way to me.”

“What do they say makes her not very friendly?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t really talk to many people. She says they’re not worth her time.”

Toni snorted. “Yeah, she sounds like a bitch.”

Cheryl glared at the Serpent. “For that? Some people aren’t worth my time either, that’s not weird.”

“Yeah, but when some people is your whole cheerleading squad, or the general populace, it’s fucked up,” Toni insisted. “Any other flaws, or is she otherwise perfect?”

Cheryl sighed, playing along even though she didn’t see the point. “I guess she could be better about asking how I’m doing. We saw each other every day all week, and she didn’t notice that I wasn’t doing the best until yesterday.” Toni just nodded, but Cheryl kept thinking. Then, something from the previous morning popped into her head. “Jason thinks that she’s the reason that the two of us aren’t close anymore. I always thought of it as his fault, for asking her out, but even if it wasn’t, I don’t think it was her fault either. Mine, maybe, because I was angry at him. She chose me over him, so I chose her over him.”

“She shouldn’t have made you choose,” Toni offered. “I think she should’ve kept her distance from him to respect you, but it shouldn’t have pulled you away from him.”

Cheryl looked at the girl, wearing fishnets, torn up black shorts, a strappy tank top, her Serpent jacket, and with those streaks of color in her dark hair, and wondered how she had such good insight. “Maybe,” Cheryl heard herself say. “But I doubt she did that on purpose.”

Toni shrugged.

“She’s not a bad person.”

“Everyone is bad for someone,” Toni argued, “even if they’re not a bad person.”

Cheryl sighed, taking another bite of her food. She was eating slowly enough that she was starting to get full, but half of her food remained. “I just can’t look at her that way,” she said finally, “it’s like it’s not possible.”

“I get that,” Toni said. “That’s happened to me before. Someone tells you that the person you’re talking to is a really bad idea, that they’ll hurt you.” Cheryl looked at Toni, who really seemed to be really speaking from deep down, in surprise. “But you just can’t stay away. The thought of ‘what if?’ is too strong.”

Cheryl nodded. “Yeah, it’s exactly that.”

They kept on eating, Cheryl trying to eat as much as she could before she was really too full to finish. They sat in silence, and Cheryl’s mind drifted to Friday night, when she’d learned that Toni liked photography and film. It was curious to her, because she still really couldn’t picture it. “What kind of stuff do you like to photograph?” Cheryl heard herself ask the other girl.

Toni looked at her in surprise, as if she assumed Cheryl had forgotten that Toni had ever even mentioned it. “Mostly people,” Toni admitted. “I like people watching and taking pictures. But I don’t have a nice camera—I only get to use the school one on the school premises if I check it out, but they don’t let people check it out very often, and it’s really fucking old. So, I don’t get to take pictures as often as I want.”

“What about your phone?” Cheryl asked.

Toni shrugged. “It’s kind of old too, so the camera isn’t the best. But I do try and take photographs every now and then. But I don’t get a lot of time to. I work a lot when I’m not doing school stuff.”

“Right, yeah.” Cheryl wanted to ask Toni if she completely supported herself, but she knew it would be overstepping. She tried to think of a different way to word the question, and finally decided on, “So, you live at Sunnyside?”

Toni nodded. “Yep, born and raised,” she said jokingly. “Literally, though, my mom gave birth to me in a trailer.”

“What a warm welcome into the world,” Cheryl joked, smiling when it got a smile out of Toni.

“Oh yeah, it was great,” Toni agreed with a laugh. “Yeah. But now I live with my uncle. My parents are… well, let’s just say _absent_. So I live with my uncle, but he’s not really _present_ either. Which is good. When he actually comes home for a while, my life turns to hell, so I prefer it when he’s gone. And since I started working at the Wyrm, I don’t even need him around for food money or anything.”

“Although I can’t relate on the money issue, I can definitely relate in the terrible family department.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? I bet you can’t top my parents’ story.”

“I’m not saying I have it _worse_ ,” Cheryl countered, “not that I would know, since you stuck with ‘let’s just say _absent_.’ Obviously, my parents still support me financially, but that’s about it, and that’s pretty much all I want from them anyway. My brother and I, we’re twins. But he was, and is, the kid they wanted. So he gets _doted_ on, and I’m always on the sidelines. They don’t talk to _him_ about curfew or grades or anything. Meanwhile, I’m always under scrutiny.”

Toni frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Cheryl said, shrugging. “In fact, I’m in the middle of avoiding going home right now. I’m in trouble for not coming home last night. If I wait a while before I go home, they’ll calm down. So.”

“So that’s why you brought me lunch,” Toni joked, but there was sincerity under the tone.

Cheryl nodded. “You caught me.”

“Well, my parents had some shitty things happen to them because of drug and alcohol addiction. They got into really bad situations all the time, and it landed them both in jail,” Toni explained her situation. “Which is for the best, honestly. They were sort of ruining my life. I used to babysit Sweet Pea’s little brother when he was younger, and I would make like ten bucks every time, and my parents would always take it to use toward drugs. They spent _all_ their money on drugs and dealing drugs for _more_ money to put toward buying drugs. There were some times where I had one meal in like, three days, because they couldn’t afford to go buy any food.”

Cheryl was in shock, hearing this. She knew things were bad on the Southside, but she’d never heard any kind of firsthand account like this. She’d never thought about what it was like for the children of all of the drug dealers and gang members she was always insulting. “That’s horrible,” Cheryl said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

Toni shrugged. “It’s fine. They didn’t love me, I didn’t love them. I don’t miss them. I’m happier being mostly on my own. And I have Sweet Pea’s family, they’re basically my family by now.”

“That’s good. I’m glad that you have someone.”

Toni nodded slowly. “Yeah, it’s good that I have them.” She cleared her throat. “But, uh, yeah. That’s why the Serpents have always been so important to me. They’re a support group, a family, that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“I never thought I’d hear a gang be described as a support group,” Cheryl commented. Toni chuckled, rolling her eyes. “My support group has always just been…”

“Heather,” Toni finished for her. Cheryl nodded. “Yeah, I get it, Red. I’m sorry you’re stuck in this shit.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

It seemed like their lunch was coming to an end, especially as Toni let out a breath and started gathering her trash. “Thanks for lunch. Consider your food debt paid.”

“You’re welcome.” Cheryl gathered up her trash as well, and then they left through the hole in the wall, covered it back up, and headed back to the Wyrm. They tossed the trash in the trashcan outside of bar, and Cheryl glanced at Toni. “I guess I’ll see you…”

“The next time you need to rant?” Toni asked, the corner of her lips turning up as one of her eyebrows rose.

“I was just going to say _later_ ,” Cheryl countered.

Toni smirked. “Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Toni.”

“Bye, Red.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, Cheryl and Toni are maybe becoming friends?!?!  
> When I thought I had enough free time earlier this week, I rewrote the first chapter of this story from Toni's POV... The next time I think I have enough free time, I'll continue doing that for more chapters haha.  
> As always, I have a ton to do for school today and tomorrow, and maybe even this weekend.... cheer me up with a quick lil comment? ;D Haha really, though, I appreciate all of y'all's comments very much! And of course, any of you who just pop in to read and then pop out, I appreciate you all as well <3 Don't forget, though, that you can follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you want to hear about my life or see when I update this story or if you just wanna tweet at me and say hi!  
> I hope you all have a good end of the week and a lovely weekend! xx


	6. rose-colored glasses, all distorted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl actually gets to spend quite a bit of time with Heather, despite the girl's relationship with Cody, and because of that, she doesn't get to see Toni much for a while, and misses the fact that some shit is going down for her Serpent sort-of-friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday friends!! It's been mostly a self-care Sunday for me, to be honest. I need to get some homework done, but all I've done to day is go grocery shopping, watch Good Trouble, play Sims, and have a nice, relaxing bath. But I mean, self care is good, so whatever lol. Gotta prepare for this upcoming week of class and homework, right?  
> I think this chapter is the first indication of some of the drama that was inevitably going to build up between Cheryl and Toni... lemme know what you guys think after you read the chapter ;D Enjoy!

It had been over a week since the last time Cheryl saw Toni, because things had mostly been going well in terms of her and Heather. They’d been hanging out about as often as usual, with Cheryl needing to find something else to do a couple of times because Heather was going out with Cody. She knew that she could’ve asked Toni to hang out during those times, but she felt like the Serpent girl would think it was weird if she tried to hang out with her with it being unrelated to _needing to talk_.

That said, Cheryl _had_ been texting back and forth with Toni throughout the past week. It started as not super often, just a few texts back and forth every now and then, but they texted more and more as the week progressed. It started when Cheryl had needed a distraction at school on Monday, while Heather was going on and on about how great Cody was. She’d text Toni, who had replied despite also being at school, and after that, they’d just texted each other randomly.

It was the following Monday now, and Cheryl was sitting in her seventh period, texting Toni and ignoring her teacher. She already knew what today’s lecture was about, because she’d read the chapter over the weekend, and had breezed through it. That’s usually how she was with school—she had pretty much no problem with any of it.

Neither did Toni, apparently. Cheryl had told Toni to feel free to not reply if she needed to be paying attention, but Toni said she was ahead in every class, because the teachers themselves always got behind.

And one thing the two of them definitely had in common was low tolerance of people being complete idiots.

**Toni – I hate the guys in this class. My teacher keeps saying Uranus and they WON’T stop laughing every time.**

**Cheryl – Sounds like Southside High guys are basically the same as the Bulldogs here.**

**Toni – Is it just a teenage boy thing to be so annoying?**

**Cheryl – I guess so.**

**Toni – Well, the guys in this class are Ghoulies. So I kinda expect them to be idiots.**

**Cheryl – Ghoulies?**

**Toni – They’re the next biggest gang, after the Serpents. But they have like, no code of honor or anything. They’re terrible.**

**Cheryl – The Serpents have a code of honor?**

**Toni – Of course. That’s how you keep people from running rampant and wreaking havoc.**

**Cheryl – Interesting.**

**Toni – Surprised that you don’t know everything about the Serpents after all?**

**Cheryl – I never said that I thought I knew everything about them.**

**Toni – No, but you definitely had all your judgments made about us before you’d ever met a single one of us.**

**Cheryl – I can’t help what I’ve heard about the Serpents.**

**Toni – Yeah, yeah, I know.**

**Toni – School’s out!**

**Cheryl – Lucky. We still have half an hour.**

**Toni – I’ve been craving one of those Pop’s burgers since last Sunday. I think Sweet Pea and I might go for dinner tonight. But he’s worried about going to the Northside just the two of us. Do you wanna be our Northside chaperone?**

Cheryl was surprised by the invitation, but she figured she didn’t have anything better to do.

**Cheryl – Sure, it’ll have to be after practice, though.**

**Toni – That’s fine, we have stuff Serpent stuff to do first anyway.**

Suddenly, Cheryl’s phone buzzed with a text from Heather, and she clicked over to it in confusion.

**Heather – I was just walking back from the bathroom and I ran into coach, she says practice is canceled because the track team needs to use the gym today.**

**Cheryl – How come I wasn’t notified?**

**Heather – She said she’s going to send the email in a minute, but I thought I’d let you know ahead of time so you don’t go into rage-mode lol.**

**Cheryl – I would not go into rage-mode over practice being canceled.**

**Heather – Lol, if you say so. I’m pretty sure it’s happened multiple times before.**

**Heather – I was supposed to go out with Cody after practice, I just texted him asking if he wanted to hang out earlier, but now apparently he can’t at all today. So do you wanna do something?**

Cheryl blinked, realizing that she’d just made plans with Toni. But Toni would understand if she couldn’t go after all, right?

She switched to her text with Toni.

**Cheryl – So practice actually just got canceled. And so did Heather’s date with Cody. She wants to hang out now.**

**Toni – Oh, okay. So… no Northside chaperone?**

**Cheryl – Raincheck. I’ll buy you Pop’s again sometime to make up for it.**

**Toni – Alright. Hey I gotta go do Serpent stuff now. Have fun with Heather.**

Cheryl couldn’t read Toni’s tone through the message, because Toni usually didn’t say anything positive about Cheryl hanging out with Heather, so she was inclined to think there was something else behind the message. She shrugged it off, though, and went back to her conversation with Heather.

**Cheryl – Sure, what’d you have in mind?**

* * *

Cody canceled on Heather two more times during the week, and although Heather told Cheryl that he had valid reasons for all of it, Cheryl knew what was really happening. This was what tended to happen to Heather when she got with a guy at a party. The few times she met up with someone multiple times in a row, she always started to get committed. They would go on dates alone rather than just go to parties. Things would start to seem good.

And then, the guy would lose interest. Not because anything was wrong with Heather, but because the guys she tended to find weren’t interested in anything serious. They went to parties to look for hookups too, but they didn’t have the expectations that Heather had going into it.

So Cheryl spent most of the week hanging out with her friend and pretending that she didn’t know what was happening with her and Cody. She nodded along when Heather told her his latest reason for not being able to meet up.

In the meantime, Cheryl kept ranting to Toni via text about it, and the girl would always reply, but it would sometimes take a while, and Cheryl didn’t know what was up with that.

On Friday, Heather surprised Cheryl by saying that Cody was finally free, and she was going to go over to his place. And so, after Vixens practice as Heather rushed off to go meet up, Cheryl decided to cash in her raincheck with Toni.

**Cheryl – Are you accepting rainchecks today?**

**Toni – I work until 9, so if we can meet at Pop’s at like 9:30, then sure.**

**Cheryl – Okay, that works. And bring Sweet Pea if you want.**

**Toni – Alright, I’ll text him and ask if he can come.**

**Cheryl – Okay. I’ll see you at 9:30.**

Cheryl took a breath and pocketed her phone, heading for her car so she could go home and get a start on her weekend homework before going out.

At nine-thirty sharp, she arrived at Pop’s, and noticed that Toni and Sweet Pea just arrived, and were climbing off their motorcycles. Toni immediately looked over at Cheryl’s car as she parked, and Cheryl met her gaze. She got out of the car and waved to greet the two Serpents.

“I heard something about free dinner, so I’m here,” Sweet Pea said with a grin. “Cheryl, right? I don’t think I officially heard your name any time before Toni mentioned it to me.”

Cheryl smiled at him. He seemed so carefree in a boyish way, even though he was a member of a gang. It was strange to think about, kind of like thinking about Toni taking pictures for fun. “Yeah, Cheryl. And, well. I figured that I owe you both dinner.”

“I didn’t even realize that you two were friends,” Sweet Pea said, glancing between her and Toni.

“I helped her out with something,” Toni said, shrugging, “and she owes me dinner.”

Cheryl nodded, although she couldn’t tell if Toni was saying that to cover up the fact that they were kind of friends, or if she was being serious. Toni had seemed sort of off all week, and she couldn’t really figure out why. “Well, let’s get a table.”

They went into Pop’s and slid into a booth, Toni and Sweet Pea across from Cheryl, and Pop was the one who came over to take their order. Cheryl told the two Serpents to order whatever they wanted, shakes included, so both of them ordered a meal, with fries, and a shake.

“So,” Toni said, looking at Cheryl, “what’s Heather up to tonight?”

Cheryl was surprised that Toni asked her directly, in front of Sweet Pea, and she narrowed her eyes a little as Sweet Pea said, “Who’s Heather?”

“My friend,” Cheryl answered quickly. “The one who was at the bonfire party with me. She’s out on a date. With Cody.”

“Oh, the blonde who Cody was teamed with during beer pong?” Sweet Pea asked, and Cheryl nodded in confirmation. “Got it. I didn’t realize she and Cody were really a thing.” Cheryl just shrugged, glancing back at Toni and trying to read her expression. She wasn’t really happy that Toni brought Heather up in front of Sweet Pea, but she supposed it was harmless. As far as everyone knew, Heather was Cheryl’s best friend, and that was it. “So,” Sweet Pea said, “is this place really as good as all your Northsiders say it is?”

Cheryl nodded. “It is the most popular diner on the Northside.”

“Jughead always talks it up,” Sweet Pea commented with a nod.

“So why have you never come with him?”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “He’s kind of like, half in, half out of the Serpents right now. He can’t fully commit to it, I think because of his dad. So, if he hangs out with the Serpents, it’s on the Southside. Otherwise, he likes to stick to the Northside with his Northsider friends.”

“Sounds complicated,” Cheryl commented.

“Jughead’s situation is complicated,” Toni piped up, “since he’s Serpent by blood, but wasn’t really raised completely on the Southside around the gang.”

“Oh yeah. That makes sense.”

Sweet Pea chuckled. “Why the sudden interest, Red? You want to join the Serpents?”

Cheryl’s eyes widened incredulously. “Me as a Serpent? Yeah, that couldn’t possibly happen.”

“I don’t know,” Sweet Pea teased, “weirder things have happened.”

Pop suddenly appeared with their food, and they all thanked him as they prepared to dig in.

Cheryl was immediately astounded by how aggressively Sweet Pea started eating, as if he hadn’t had a meal in days. Although, Cheryl supposed she couldn’t know for sure that how much he had actually eaten. She was sure that Southside High must provide lunch, but other than that, who could say for sure about Southsiders.

“Okay,” Sweet Pea said, through a mouthful of food, “this is the one good thing the Northside has. This is such a good burger.”

Toni rolled her eyes, swallowing a bite of her own. “Don’t talk with your mouthful like that dude, it’s nasty.”

“Sorry,” Sweet Pea said, though he still had food in his mouth. Cheryl couldn’t help but chuckle a little, and Toni just shook her head.

They didn’t talk much as they all ate, except for Sweet Pea talking about how good the food was and Cheryl answering with short affirmatives. And then they were done eating, and Cheryl paid the check, and they left the diner.

But Cheryl wasn’t pleased with how the evening had gone. Toni had barely spoken to her, and she knew that she needed to talk to Toni alone, but it seemed like the Serpent girl was happy to go ahead and leave. “Thanks for the food,” Sweet Pea said, grinning at Cheryl. “If you ever need any more car help, definitely call me if you’re going to pay in Pop’s.”

Cheryl smiled. “Noted.” She glanced at Toni, who was avoiding eye contact with her.

“Alright, we should head out. You coming, Tiny?” Sweet Pea asked, looking to Toni.

“I’ll catch up with you,” she said. Sweet Pea just shrugged, glancing one more time at Cheryl and giving her a small wave, before climbing onto his motorcycle, pulling on his helmet, and driving off. Toni finally looked back at Cheryl, who was surprised as Toni immediately began to apologize, “I’m sorry for mentioning Heather. That was stupid. I wasn’t thinking.”

Cheryl shrugged. “It’s okay, really. I’m not mad.”

“Okay. That’s good.”

“Um, but are you mad?” Cheryl asked. “You’ve been kind of… distant this week.”

“I’m not mad,” Toni answered. “I had a rough week.”

Cheryl nodded slowly, not completely sure she believed Toni. “Okay. I’m sorry you had a rough week.”

“It’s fine. Did you… wanna go talk about Heather?” Toni asked. Cheryl was surprised by that question as well.

“I don’t want to bother you about it if you’ve been having a bad week,” Cheryl said, knowing that Toni sometimes got a little frustrated when they talked about Heather, mostly because Cheryl was bad at heeding her advice.

“No, really, it could be a good distraction,” Toni insisted. “We can go wherever, the Wyrm might be a little far.”

And that’s how they ended up driving until they found an empty parking lot on the Northside, outside of a hardware shop, and they parked their respective vehicles. Cheryl took the top down from her car, and invited Toni to sit in her passenger seat.

“So,” Toni said, “how’s it been going?”

Cheryl frowned. “You’re going to be mad.”

“Oh really?”

“I’ve hung out with Heather pretty much like every day this week. Because Cody kept canceling on her,” Cheryl admitted.

Toni let out a puff of air. “So you were her backup plan?” Cheryl shrugged. “And you’re okay with that?”

“It’s not that she doesn’t want to hang out with me. It’s just… you know, significant others come first, I guess,” Cheryl said.

“Yeah, but don’t you _wish_ she was _your_ significant other? If she picks you send to this boy she’s known for a couple of weeks, isn’t it pretty much a given that she’s not into you that way?” Toni asked.

“But, what if—”

“Cheryl,” Toni interrupted, surprising Cheryl, because Toni had pretty much never used her actual name, “if you keep playing this what if game, you’re going to get really hurt.”

“You’ve said yourself that it’s hard not to ask what if,” Cheryl countered.

Toni shook her head. “That doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to ask it. She’s already said she’s not gay, right? So even if she does think experimenting would be fun, you do _not_ want to be your best friend’s experiment. That will hurt you more than any of the other options.”

“I know that, I won’t let her make me her experiment, but—”

“Look, Red, I want to help you get through this, but you are just letting yourself stay stuck there,” Toni said, sounding exasperated.

Cheryl was taken aback by her tone of voice. Usually, even when Toni was giving her tough advice, she didn’t sound mad or so stressed out. She didn’t even know what to say in response, and Toni quickly realized her mistake, and sighed.

“Sorry. I’m on edge, it’s not your fault,” Toni apologized.

“What’s been going on with you this week?” Cheryl wondered. “If you want to tell me, of course…”

Toni sighed. “Just some shit with my uncle. I had to crash at Sweet Pea’s a few times this week, and things are just crazy. I was hoping that going to Pop’s for dinner with you and Sweet Pea would be a distraction, but clearly I was wrong. I’m just… overwhelmed, but it’s fine.”

“Oh…”

Toni shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m sorry. Keep talking about Heather.”

Cheryl wanted to ask more about Toni’s situation, or try to offer some sort of assistance, but she didn’t know what to say, and Toni was looking at her expectantly. “Oh. Well. Cody kept bailing on her all week, like I said, but he was free to go out tonight.”

She could tell from her face that Toni wanted to say something, so she paused, but Toni proved her wrong, not saying anything.

“And… well, that’s it I guess. I didn’t cash in the raincheck to talk about anything in particular, really. I just… I owed you and Sweet Pea dinner after Monday,” Cheryl said quietly.

Suddenly, Cheryl’s phone began vibrating, and she grabbed it out of her purse to see that it was Heather, spamming her with texts. “Is it Heather?” Toni asked.

Cheryl just nodded, quickly opening her text thread with her best friend to read the messages.

**Heather – Cody dumped me.**

**Heather – He’s such a fucking dick! Of course he kept lying and dragging it out all week when he knew he wanted to do it on Monday!**

**Heather – He’s a fucking coward! You were totally right about these Southsiders.**

**Heather – Can you come pick me up? I’m at Sunnyside, but he picked me up. Which why the fuck did he agree to pick me up if he knew he was going to be making me leave?**

**Heather – Well, he offered to drive me home, but I’m not a fucking idiot.**

“What’s going on?” Toni asked.

“Cody dumped her,” Cheryl answered.

“Oh, shit. Well, I guess that explains all of the avoiding he did this week.”

Cheryl sighed. “I knew this would happen.”

“Why? Because he’s a Serpent?” Toni asked, sounding a little bitter as she said the words. Cheryl furrowed her brow.

“No, not because he’s a Serpent,” she denied, “but because this always happens with Heather. She picks guys who are looking to hookup, but she’s always looking for something more. She says she just wants to hookup, she says it to herself and to the guy, but really, she wants more. And when she starts to press for something more serious, the guy dumps her. This has happened at least five times now.”

“And let me guess,” Toni said, stretching out the words a little, “you’re always there to pick up the pieces?”

“What am I supposed to do, Toni?” Cheryl snapped. “She’s my best friend.”

“Who manipulates you into being there for her all the time!” Toni exclaimed. “Let me guess, she needs you right now?”

“She’s at Sunnyside without a car,” Cheryl answered, “so yes, she does. What do you want me to do? Leave her there with no way to get home?”

Toni shook her head, getting out of the car. “I’m just saying, Red. She’s got you on a leash.”

“On a leash? No, she does _not_!” Cheryl exclaimed. “Where are you going?”

“Ironically,” Toni called, as she walked over to her motorcycle, “I think I’m going to the same place you’re being summoned to.” Toni climbed onto the motorcycle, pulled on her helmet, and took off out of the parking lot in a matter of seconds. Cheryl let out a breath, not sure how that had just happened.

She knew that Toni was on edge because of her home situation, but she really didn’t expect Toni to get so mad at her.

Sighing, she put the top back on her car and then started it, heading toward Sunnyside Trailer Park.

When she got there, she saw Heather pacing at the entrance, looking up as soon as she heard the sound of Cheryl’s car. Cheryl stopped the car so Heather could get in the passenger seat. The blonde’s makeup had been ruined by tears. “Can you take me home?” Heather asked immediately.

“Of course,” Cheryl said softly, putting the car back in drive and starting the drive back north. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“Tomorrow,” Heather answered. “Can you stay over tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”

Cheryl signed internally. “Sure, Heather, of course.”

It was another nearly sleepless night for Cheryl, partially because it took Heather multiple hours to stop crying, and Cheryl stayed up, rubbing her back and telling her it would be okay, until she fell asleep. And after that, it still took Cheryl a little while to finally fall asleep.

Saturday morning, Cheryl heard the whole story. Cody wasn’t interested in anything serious, and he didn’t realize that’s where Heather was going with it until the previous weekend. He was hoping she would lose interest in him if they didn’t see each other for a few days, because he didn’t know how to let her down about it. And in the end, Heather essentially got dumped.

“Why does this always happen to me?” Heather asked, as they sat on her bed doing their makeup. They would normally be doing this in the bathroom, but Heather had insisted that she wanted to stay in bed as much as possible today.

“You get unlucky with guys,” Cheryl answered.

Heather sighed. “Are there any good men in this world?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe your family friend has the right idea,” Heather muttered.

Cheryl immediately looked up at that. “What?”

“Maybe dating girls is just easier,” Heather said. Cheryl didn’t even know what to say at this point, she felt like she was holding her breath, waiting to see where this conversation would go. “It would probably be easier if I just liked girls instead of boys, huh?”

“I don’t know…” Cheryl trailed off, returning to doing her makeup.

“Well. I guess I’m just cursed with heterosexuality.”

“I guess so,” Cheryl said with a subtle sigh.

“Can we just stay in today and watch movies and eat ice cream? I really need a mental health recovery day after this week and last night. And I need a reminder that there is good in this world besides sex,” Heather said.

“Yeah, of course we can.”

And they did spend the day hanging out at Heather’s house, watching movies and eating ice cream.

Throughout the day, Cheryl sent multiple text messages to Toni. She felt bad for how things had been left the night before, but Toni wasn’t replying to any of her messages. The texts started as apologies and questions of “can we talk about what happened?” But throughout the day, Cheryl changed the theme of the occasional texts to “are you okay? Just answer me and tell me that you’re okay.” She didn’t know why she was so concerned, but she’d realized that she didn’t even know for sure that Toni got home safely the night before. And maybe she and Toni weren’t very close friends, but Cheryl was a little surprised to realize that she _did_ care about the Serpent girl. She wanted to make sure she was okay.

It was past midnight when Cheryl’s phone started ringing with a call from a random number. She didn’t normally pick up random phone calls, but her concern for Toni was enough to make her wonder if it could be her, calling from another phone.

“Who is it?” Heather asked.

“I don’t know,” Cheryl answered, picking up the phone call anyway.

“Hey, is this Cheryl?” the voice asked, but it was a guy, not Toni.

“Yes?”

“It’s Sweet Pea,” Sweet Pea said, and Cheryl’s eyes widened a little. Why would Sweet Pea be calling her?

“How did you—”

“Don’t worry about it, I have my ways,” Sweet Pea interrupted. “Look, I’m out of town, and my dad let our neighbor use our trailer for the weekend, because their water is completely out, and we’re not using it anyway. But Toni texted me earlier asking if she could crash at my place, and I didn’t see it until just now. She’s not texting me back now, and I don’t know where she is. I know you guys aren’t really friends, but almost all of the Serpents are out of town tonight, so I didn’t know who to call. But I think she might’ve gotten locked out of her uncle’s trailer, so…”

“Yeah, okay, I can, um…” Cheryl glanced at Heather. She didn’t want her friend to know what was going on. “Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay, thank you,” Sweet Pea said. “I’m sure there’s not many places she could’ve gone. But I just need to make sure she’s okay. She’s my best friend.”

“I know. I’ll take care of it,” Cheryl promised.

“Thanks. Text me when you hear from her.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye, Red.”

The call ended, and Heather lifted an eyebrow. “What was that about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hanger! I'm so sorry y'all, but let's be honest, if you've read any of my stories before, you had to know this was coming.  
> Yeah so, maybe Toni and Cheryl are becoming friends, but that doesn't mean everything is going to be all fine and dandy... Let me know what you guys think either by dropping a comment below or following me @BrittzandTana on Twitter and tweeting at me!  
> I've been writing some more of the Toni POV version of this story, and honestly, I'm not even that far in yet and I'm getting really excited about it. I'm writing it with the doc side by side with the doc for this story, so that everything makes sense, but I'm getting to put in a lot of stuff about Toni and her friends, and I'm probably going to eventually include some bonus Choni scenes... Assuming I finish it, I will obviously post it after this story!  
> Anyway, one more quick thing! I've been trying to find some good Choni fics to read, and I started like 3 yesterday (what happened in vegas, the one where cheryl is a mermaid, and the happy death day one)... I'm really bad with story names LOL. Anyway, if you have any good recs, send them my way!  
> Other than that, I would like to thank you all very much for spending some of your time this weekend reading this update! I hope you all have a lovely week, and I will see you all on Thursday! :D


	7. nowhere to go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After receiving a call from Sweet Pea the night before, asking her to see if she could try to find and check up on Toni, Cheryl does just that, despite her best friend's insistence that she not do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning everyone!! I thought this chapter was longer than it actually is, but it's a really important one, in the grand scheme of things. I know a lot of you have been wondering what kind of person Heather is, and I think I mentioned that, obviously, how we see Heather in this story is going to be shaped by how Cheryl sees Heather. Anyway, this chapter may expand on some of that...  
> Anyway! Enjoy the chapter!

Heather was looking at Cheryl expectantly, waiting to hear an explanation on the phone call she’d just received from Sweet Pea. Thankfully, Heather had only heard her side of the conversation, but now, Cheryl was going to have to lie to her best friend about where she was going.

“I have to go,” Cheryl told her simply.

Heather immediately pouted. “Wait, why? It’s so late, and you’re supposed to be hanging out with me indefinitely until I feel better. That’s how post-breakup movie and ice cream binging works!” Heather exclaimed. “Come on, please stay? What’s so important that you have to leave?”

“Jason is having an emergency,” Cheryl heard herself lie.

“What? What kind of emergency? I’m assuming it’s bad, you two never call each other for things.”

Cheryl shook her head. “I don’t know exactly, but it’s family stuff. I really need to go.”

“Want me to come with?” Heather asked. “I can be backup.”

“No, I think it’ll be fine. It didn’t sound like too big of a deal, but I need to be there,” Cheryl insisted.

Heather sighed. “Fine. But you owe me for ditching me post-bad-breakup!” Cheryl just nodded, getting up and grabbing her purse. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Probably,” Cheryl answered, feeling like she should be rushing more. “If not, Monday.”

Heather didn’t look happy to hear that, but she nodded. “Okay. Well. Let me know how the emergency goes.”

“I will,” Cheryl said. “Bye, see you.”

“Bye.”

Cheryl left Heather’s bedroom and hurried downstairs, letting herself out of the house and going to her car. Where would Toni go if she couldn’t stay at her trailer or Sweet Pea’s trailer?

Cheryl didn’t really know many places in the Southside, but all of the places she had been were possible contenders. So Cheryl quickly stopped by Thornhill, grabbed some blankets and pillows from one of the closets full of spares, as well a couple of fruits from the bowl on the kitchen counter. Supplies in hand, Cheryl hopped back into her car and started the drive to the Southside.

She swung by the Drive-In theater first, not sure of the best way to check if Toni was there without going in. She drove around it for a minute, but didn’t see any signs of movement within the fence, so she decided to go to the Wyrm next.

And sure enough, as she drove up, she saw Toni’s motorcycle parked outside. Well, she couldn’t tell for sure if it was Toni’s, but it was a motorcycle, and it was the only one parked there. Surprisingly, the White Wyrm didn’t seem open, even though Toni usually worked really late when she worked on Saturday nights.

Cheryl got out of her car, leaving her supplies in it for now, and went to the entrance of the White Wyrm. She tried to pull open the door, but it didn’t budge. Locked. Cheryl peered through the glass, and realized that there seemed to be a light on in the back. Cheryl knocked on the glass loudly, and sure enough, a moment later, Toni’s head poked out of the back room.

Cheryl let out a relieved breath as Toni came to the door and pushed it open. “Cheryl? What are you doing here?” She looked exhausted, her makeup smudged and her hair a bit of a mess. Her eyes were slightly red, like she’d been crying.

“Sweet Pea called me,” Cheryl answered. “He said you couldn’t stay at your trailer, and that now you weren’t answering your phone.”

“It’s dead,” Toni deadpanned. “I just got here, I haven’t been able to charge it.”

“Well, I came to—”

“Look, Red,” Toni interrupted, sounding beyond stressed, “I really can’t talk tonight, I’m exhausted and—”

“I _brought_ some stuff for you,” Cheryl interrupted back, silencing the Serpent. “Let me grab it.”

Cheryl turned around and hurried back to her car, glancing back at the bar when she reached it. Toni wasn’t at the door anymore, but it looked like she’d propped it open. Cheryl grabbed her big pile of blankets, pillows, and snacks, and then grabbed her phone to text the number that had called her earlier, which she hadn’t gotten a chance to save yet.

**Cheryl – Toni is at the White Wyrm. She seems okay, just shaken up. I brought her some blankets and things for tonight.**

**Unknown – Thanks, Cheryl. Sorry to bother you about it so late. I know you two aren’t really friends.**

**Cheryl – It’s fine, really.**

She slipped her phone into her pocket and carried everything back to the door, which was, in fact, propped open by a rock that must’ve been out on the ground. She pushed it open with her arm, stepped inside, and then kicked the rock back outside so the door would lock behind her.

Then she started to head to the room that had the light on in the back. “Toni?” she called quietly, stepping into the room.

Toni was plugging her phone into an old charging cord. It seemed like they were in the employee break room, but it wasn’t very nice. There was a table and three wooden chairs, two of which Toni had moved up against the wall, next to the power outlet, facing each other, like she intended to sleep across it, which Cheryl was sure she did. “Oh… you brought a lot.” She sat down on her makeshift bed.

“Well, I figured if you weren’t sleeping at home or at Sweet Pea’s, you would end up somewhere less than comfortable,” Cheryl stated, setting the blankets, pillows, and snacks on the table. “And I didn’t have time to go get anything better than some fruit, in case you’re hungry.”

“Thanks, Red. You… didn’t have to do that.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn’t text me back all day.”

“Yeah…” Toni pushed some hair out of her face, leaning back against the wall.

“Why did we fight last night?” Cheryl asked her. “I don’t know what happened.”

Toni shook her head, sighing and leaning back against the wall. “I don’t want to talk about last night. It’s fine, water under the bridge or whatever. I was having a bad week and a bad night.”

“And today? What happened?” Cheryl pulled the extra chair closer to the two where Toni sat. Toni didn’t look like she wanted to answer at first, but Cheryl didn’t pressure her. She just sat silently, waiting for Toni to decide if she wanted to share or not. She didn’t really know what to do in this sort of situation, but if there was anything she’d learned about Toni since meeting her was that if you pushed too hard, she would snap. And the past week made it obvious that Toni had been being pushed too hard by something. She didn’t need any more of that now.

Finally, Toni took in a shaky breath, wiping at her cheeks even though there was nothing there, and spoke. “I told you some shit was happening with my uncle.” Cheryl nodded. “He spent the week coming home drunk and telling me that he wanted me out of his space. That wasn’t particularly unusual, so I kept going out or hanging at Sweet Pea’s. But he wasn’t home last night, so I stayed at the trailer. And I didn’t work today, because the White Wyrm was closed—since Hog Eye and most of the Serpents are gone this weekend—so I was home almost all day. But like, four hours ago, my uncle came back and started screaming about how he’s told me countless times he wants me out. He practically shoved me out the door, but he didn’t give me any stuff. I waited about half an hour before I went back in, hoping he’d have passed out so that I could just grab my phone and some other stuff.”

Toni took in a shaky breath, and Cheryl resisted the urge to put her hand on Toni’s back and rub it. She didn’t know if Toni would be comfortable with that, and she didn’t want to interrupt her.

“I made it into my room, grabbed my phone and wallet and my motorcycle keys, all the important stuff. I texted Sweet Pea, asking if I could use his trailer since his family is out of town with the Serpents today,” Toni continued. “Then, my uncle noticed that I’d come back in, and he started screaming and throwing things—I swear he almost hit me like, ten times. So I ducked out of there, but not before he managed to get my key to the trailer. So I was, well, _am_ officially locked out. Sweet Pea didn’t reply, I went to his trailer to get in, but then I remembered that this other family was using it for the weekend, because they weren’t getting any water in theirs.”

“What time was that at?” Cheryl asked, trying to gauge how long Toni had been looking for a place to stay before coming to the Wyrm.

“That was probably two hours ago?” Toni shrugged. “I don’t know, so many things were happening, and my uncle and I fought for way longer than I thought when I looked at the time after.”

Cheryl nodded. “So you didn’t come straight here after realizing you couldn’t go to Sweet Pea’s?”

“No. I tried calling a few more people, but pretty much every Serpent left this morning. The only reason I didn’t go was because they needed a few people to stay behind and make rounds on Southside. I even tried calling Jughead, I saw him making rounds earlier today. His dad didn’t let him go on the trip, I guess. He didn’t pick up, and when I tried his trailer, it was locked and he didn’t answer the door. So I figure he’s with Betty or something?” Toni shook her head. “Basically, no one I could stay with would pick up or anything. So I went and bought some food for late dinner, and finally came here.”

“Oh, Toni…” Cheryl frowned. “I’m so sorry. That sounds…”

“I know,” Toni said, not giving Cheryl a chance to think of which adjective she was wanted to say. Her phone suddenly flickered to life next to her. “I’m sorry you came all the way here just to listen to me ramble on—”

“Don’t be,” Cheryl interrupted. “Like I said, I wanted to make sure that you were okay. And now you have some things to make sleeping on these chairs somewhat more comfortable.”

Toni smiled a little, although she sniffled at the same time. “Thanks.”

“Do you… have any idea where you’re going to stay after tonight?” Cheryl wondered.

“I think Sweet Pea’s dad won’t mind if I crash on their couch for a while. I don’t know if my uncle will let me back in our place to get clothes and stuff though. So I might have to break in to grab some stuff. But if I do that, that automatically extends how long I have to spend away from there.”

“Has this happened before? Where he took your key?”

Toni sighed, shaking her head. “No, it hasn’t. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can barely afford gas and food, so I definitely can’t try to get any place by myself. I can maybe pay some rent to Sweet Pea’s dad if I need to stay there for a while. I’ll figure something out, though. I’m almost eighteen, so I guess it’s about time anyway.”

Cheryl wanted to say that Toni didn’t deserve that, but she knew that the girl already knew that. “Let me help set up a bed for you,” Cheryl said, standing up and going to the table to grab the pillows and blankets. Toni stood up from the chair and let Cheryl lay out one blanket, then put down the pillows, and throw the second blanket over the whole thing. “There.”

Toni gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on those.”

“Who would?” Cheryl asked, getting a nod from the Serpent. “You should sleep, you look like you need it.”

“Gee thanks, Red,” Toni said sarcastically, and it was kind of nice to hear her sounding a little more like herself.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Do you need me to get anything else for you?”

Toni shook her head. “No, I’ll be okay here. The White Wyrm is going to be open tomorrow, but not until the afternoon, so I’ll have time to get out of here before then. And Sweet Pea should be back around noon tomorrow, too.”

“Okay good,” Cheryl said with a nod. “Well, I will let you sleep then.”

“Thanks. For bringing the stuff.”

“Of course. Text me tomorrow,” Cheryl instructed.

Toni actually smiled a little. “I will.”

And with that, Cheryl turned and left the break room, and then left the bar, closing the door firmly behind her and checking that it was indeed still locked. Then she got into her car and started her drive back to Thornhill.

She forgot to text Heather anything to try and backup her lie from earlier, because by the time she got home, she was feeling absolutely drained, and she barely had time to get ready for bed before she crashed.

The next morning, she woke up to incessant buzzing that would _not_ stop, and when she forced her eyes open, she realized that it was her phone on her nightstand. It was ringing, and when she sat up, she saw that it was Heather.

Answering it tiredly, she said, “Hello?”

“Hey, come outside, I’m here and we need to talk,” Heather stated firmly. Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “Hurry.” The line ended, and Cheryl, very confused, quickly dragged herself out of bed. She quickly brushed her teeth and pulled her hair up into a bun. She then pulled her silk robe over her pajamas and headed downstairs.

She stepped outside to find Heather pacing next to her Audi. “Hey, what’s going on?” Cheryl asked, taking a few more steps forward.

Heather immediately spun to look at Cheryl, and the redhead could immediately tell that Heather was angry. “I don’t know, how about you tell _me_ what’s going on? Because you certainly didn’t last night, and I think you owe it to me.”

“Excuse me?” Cheryl asked, genuinely taken aback.

“I texted Jason last night, asking him what was going on, and he responded to me early this morning saying that _nothing_ was going on. There was no family emergency or anything. So where the hell did you go last night?” Heather demanded.

Cheryl’s heart was pounding now. She hadn’t been caught lying to Heather in years—and the last time she did it, she swore to herself that she wouldn’t ever lie to Heather again. Every time she did, Heather got like this, angry but also hurt, and Cheryl had always hated it when Heather was mad at her. “I had something important to take care of, it couldn’t wait,” Cheryl said honestly. “I’m sorry that I lied about who it was for, but—"

“But what? Was there even an emergency, or were you just trying to get out of hanging out with me?”

Cheryl’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me? I spent all day hanging out with you!”

“I do so much for you Cheryl, and I asked you to do this _one_ thing, to spend yesterday with me. I was hurting because of Cody, but now I’m hurting because of my _best_ friend too! Isn’t that fucked up?” Heather demanded.

Cheryl was honestly shocked at what she was hearing. “I spent the whole day with you yesterday, as per your request, Heather! Obviously I wanted to keep hanging out, but I had something that I needed to do!”

“Something that you can’t even tell me right?” Heather snapped.

“It’s… it’s complicated, Heather, it’s… personal to someone, I can’t just talk about it,” Cheryl insisted. “If I could tell you, I would, but—”

“No, I’m your best friend, Cheryl. You can tell me anything. You’re _choosing_ not to.”

“That is not fair!” Cheryl snapped.

“You know what’s not fair? Feeling betrayed by your best friend because she lied to you, and won’t even offer a good explanation after the fact,” Heather stated flatly, the anger gone from her voice. It was filled with hurt now, and the sound hurt Cheryl’s chest. “I should go.”

“Wait, Heather,” Cheryl said, taking another step forward, “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry.”

“I need to be alone right now,” Heather said. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Cheryl was at a complete loss as Heather slipped into the driver’s seat of her car, pulling out of the driveway and heading off the Thornhill property. Cheryl took in a shaky breath. She knew that Heather wasn’t happy when she left the previous night, but she didn’t expect her to text Jason to fact check Cheryl’s story.

Cheryl walked back inside, feeling like she needed another whole night’s sleep, and was immediately facing her brother. “Uh, is everything okay?” Jason asked. “I heard yelling.”

“Heather is mad at me,” Cheryl answered simply, stepping around Jason to get to the stairs.

“Why?” Jason asked in confusion. “You guys are never mad at each other. Wait… does this have something to do with the fact that she texted me last night? She thought there was some kind of family emergency…”

“Yeah. I told her that,” Cheryl told him, “because I couldn’t tell her where I actually needed to go. And now she’s pissed at me, because I lied.”

“Well, why not just tell her the truth?”

Cheryl shook her head. “It’s not that simple, JJ. I’m going back to bed.”

“Okay…”

Cheryl slept for multiple additional hours after that, finally waking up in the early afternoon. Her stomach was growling angrily, needing sustenance, but Cheryl hardly felt up to getting out of bed.

She grabbed her phone, checking if she had any texts from Heather, but found that she didn’t. She did, however, have one from Toni.

**Toni – Hey, Sweet Pea just got back in town, so I left the Wyrm and I’m at his place now. Thanks for last night.**

**Toni – His dad is going to talk to my uncle and see if he can get him to let me stay at the trailer until I’m eighteen. I don’t have high hopes, though. My uncle doesn’t like Sweet Pea or his dad, so I’m sure he won’t appreciate the suggestion.**

**Toni – Are you good, Red?**

The last text was from only twenty minutes ago.

**Cheryl – I guess. Sorry. I just woke up again.**

**Toni – Again?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, well I woke up kind of early to Heather outside my house, ready to yell at me for lying about where I went last night.**

**Toni – Oh. I didn’t realize you’d been at Heather’s before you came to the White Wyrm.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, Sweet Pea called me while I was at her place. We’d been binging movies all day because of her breakup. I told her there was a family emergency I had to take care of, and she wasn’t happy but it was what it was. But then, she apparently texted Jason, who told her there was no emergency, and now she’s pissed at me.**

**Toni – It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, should it?**

**Cheryl – I don’t know. It is to her. I betrayed her trust.**

**Toni – You might consider, as I’ve said before, that your best friend may be implementing techniques of manipulation…**

Cheryl sighed, thinking back to her conversation with Heather from that morning. Maybe it was a _little_ manipulative, the way Heather had been talking, but Cheryl _had_ lied to her, and they always told each other the truth.

**Cheryl – Maybe, but she seemed genuinely hurt. And I hate seeing her hurt.**

**Toni – Yeah. That’s fair.**

**Toni – Did you end up telling her where you really went last night?**

**Cheryl – No, of course not. It’s not her business.**

**Toni – Okay. Yeah, that’s good.**

**Cheryl – Well, I’m glad you’re at Sweet Pea’s now. I can’t imagine those chairs were very comfy, even with the blankets.**

**Toni – Yeah they definitely weren’t very comfortable.**

**Cheryl – Let me know if you need anything from me, okay?**

**Toni – Sure, Red.**

Cheryl set her phone down and sat up, deciding that she should probably feed herself and try to get ready for the day. And she did her best to push the fact that Heather was mad at her out of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts on Heather? XD  
> Thoughts on Choni's present situation?  
> Thank you all for spending some of your day here reading my story! I seriously appreciate it so much! And I appreciate every hit, kudos, and comment that you all leave here <3 Don't forget that you can tweet at me @BrittzandTana, about fanfic or just to say hi, or you can just follow me and see what I do with my life haha. I love chatting with you all there!  
> I will see you all on Sunday with the next update! <3


	8. i think of that night in the park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the start of Spring Break, and Cheryl, who is finally trying to head Toni's advice, spends the beginning of break not with Heather, and instead helping Toni and Sweet Pea get some of the Serpent girl's belongings back from her uncle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday evening friends! I know, Sunday is almost over, but I had a kinda busy day, so I didn't have the chance to update until now. Hopefully, the length and amount of Choni interaction in this chapter will make up for that, though!  
> You guys TOTALLY blew me away with the comments on the last chapter! I got a ton within 1 day of posting, and it seriously made my day. I'm not even joking, you are all so amazing and I seriously appreciate the time you all take to be here, to read these updates, and to comment your thoughts. <3  
> Enjoy the chapter! :)

It was Tuesday before Heather really started talking to Cheryl again. Monday had been Cheryl trying to give Heather space, not interacting with her at school at all, and only texting her once, just to see if Heather was in a good headspace to talk yet. She hadn’t gotten a response, so she assumed the answer was no.

On Tuesday, though, Heather approached her after their last classes, before Vixens practice. “Hey, Cheryl,” Heather called, immediately drawing Cheryl’s attention. “Can we talk real quick?”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Cheryl said. They were in the gym, but most of the other girls were still in the locker room.

“Look… I’m still upset about Saturday night. But… I already miss you. So, I’m willing to forgive you,” Heather told her. “Just please don’t lie to me again, Cher.”

Cheryl felt relief wash over her. “Okay, Heather,” she said, nodding. “I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

Heather gave her a small smile. “It’s okay. We’re best friends. One fight isn’t going to screw us over.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed with a smile.

Cheryl went easier on the Vixens than normal during practice after that, because she was in a good mood. And when she left practice and got in her car to drive home, she texted Toni happily.

**Cheryl – Good news! Heather forgave me for lying and didn’t even ask me to give her the truth about Saturday or anything.**

**Toni – Oh, that’s good.**

**Cheryl – Yeah. I hate fighting with her.**

**Toni – Because she makes you feel like shit?**

**Cheryl – No, because I don’t like hurting my best friend.**

**Toni – Alright, Red, whatever you say.**

**Cheryl – What? What are you wanting to say that you’re not saying?**

**Toni – Did she apologize for coming to your house and yelling at you? Did she admit that she overreacted?**

**Cheryl – No.**

**Toni – You didn’t deserve to be treated that way, but she didn’t even consider how she hurt you the past couple of days. And neither did you! You felt completely at fault for lying to her. Do you think you deserved to be ignored for two days and then forgiven for something that wasn’t even that big of a deal?**

Cheryl didn’t respond right away, because she read the message three times over, surprised at what Toni was saying.

**Cheryl – I… don’t know what to say.**

**Toni – That’s okay. I’ve got work soon, so I’ll talk to you later.**

**Cheryl – Okay.**

Cheryl was plagued with questions for the rest of the day, and even as she tried to focus on homework, she couldn’t stop wondering if maybe, Toni was right.

* * *

It was the following Monday, the first day of Spring Break. Usually, Cheryl and Heather would have something planned for the week, a road trip or something, but due to the drama of the past few weeks, they hadn’t planned anything. And Cheryl was actually happy about it, because she didn’t think she could handle being alone with Heather for multiple days in a row.

Especially not after the past week. Ever since Toni had explained why she believed Heather was manipulating Cheryl, the redhead couldn’t stop questioning everything her best friend would say or do. Sure, she was happy that they were talking again, but every now and then, Heather would sigh and mention something about their fight. Like she was trying to remind Cheryl of the hurt she caused. It was backing up everything Toni said about Heather, but Cheryl didn’t want to believe it.

Because they had not planned anything for Spring Break, Heather had decided that she would dedicate some of the break to getting over Cody. Which is why Monday in the afternoon, she invited Cheryl to go with her to a bar halfway between Riverdale and Greendale while she looked for someone to mess around with.

Cheryl refused, claiming that she had homework that she wanted to finish before she started doing too much fun stuff, so that she didn’t forget it. Heather wasn’t very happy with the answer, but she seemed to buy it, and she left for the bar without Cheryl. And Cheryl, who actually didn’t have any homework to get done, decided to text Toni.

**Cheryl – Hey, you busy?**

**Toni – Kind of… why? What’s up?**

**Cheryl – Oh, if you’re busy, then never mind. I just don’t have anything to do, so I was going to ask if you wanted to… hang out, I guess.**

**Toni – Ah. What’s Heather up to?**

**Cheryl – She asked me if I wanted to go to a bar with her, to scope out guys. I told her I didn’t want to, so now I have a free afternoon and evening.**

**Toni – Well, in that case. If you’d like to, Sweet Pea and I are currently planning our break in to my uncle’s trailer to get my stuff.**

**Cheryl – His dad’s talk with your uncle didn’t go well?**

**Toni – No, he couldn’t even get my uncle to have a conversation with him until last night. I’ve been wearing the same pair of pants with random shirts Sweet Pea has let me borrow for like a week. And my uncle basically just yelled about how unappreciative I always am and how I’m a waste of space, blah blah. So, I’m going to go in, get my stuff, and probably start giving some of my paycheck every other week to Sweet Pea’s dad as rent.**

**Toni – So, you wanna help us break in?**

Cheryl never thought that she would be driving to the Southside to assist with a trailer robbery, but here she was on the first day of her Spring Break, doing just that. But she supposed it was hardly a real robbery, considering that the stuff Toni wanted to take was _hers_.

She arrived at Sunnyside and immediately realized that she didn’t actually know where Toni’s uncle’s trailer was, let alone Sweet Pea’s—where she was supposed to meet him and Toni.

**Cheryl – I just got to Sunnyside, I don’t know where Sweet Pea’s trailer is?**

Toni texted her walking directions from the entrance to Sunnyside to his trailer, and Cheryl followed them pretty easily until she arrived at the right one. She stepped up the front two steps and knocked on the door. It swung open almost immediately to reveal Sweet Pea, a grin spread across his face. “Hey, Red!”

“Hi,” Cheryl returned with a small smile.

“Come on in,” he said, stepping back to let her step in. Cheryl tried not to look around too much when she stepped into the tiny trailer, not wanting him or Toni to think that she was judging, even if it was the smallest home Cheryl had ever stepped foot in.

She glanced around, though, at the tiny kitchen and the little hall that went to, presumably, a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom. And then she looked at the little living area, and at the worn down couch that Toni was sat on, looking at her. “Hey,” Toni greeted, giving her a smile. She looked like she was doing a lot better than the last time Cheryl had seen her in person.

“Hey,” Cheryl returned. “So… planning a break in, right?”

Sweet Pea chuckled. “Barely. We’re just gonna bust the lock on the door, it’s really easy to do on most of the trailers.”

“And your uncle isn’t home?” Cheryl asked Toni, who shook her head.

“No, we saw him leave almost an hour ago, and Sweet Pea followed him for long enough to know that he was going to the White Wyrm. He only goes there when he knows I’m not working, and he stays there for as long as possible,” Toni assured her. “So there’s no chance he gets home while we’re in there.”

“Alright, well now that the last member of our party is here, I think we’re ready to go?” Sweet Pea said, looking in between the two girls, who both nodded. Toni stood up and they walked out of Sweet Pea’s trailer.

The two Serpents led Cheryl a little further into Sunnyside, until they stopped in front of one trailer. “This is it,” Toni said. “Okay, so Sweets and I will break the lock, and then you can come help me get my stuff, Red, while he keeps watch outside.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cheryl said, feeling a little bit of adrenaline from the excitement of doing something… dangerous? Illegal? It felt weird to be excited over something like that, but she was nonetheless.

Cheryl glanced around as Sweet Pea and Toni went up to the door and did whatever they were doing to bust the lock. Then sure enough, a second later, she heard it break, and Toni pushed the door open. “Come on, Cheryl.” Cheryl climbed up the steps and followed Toni inside, while Sweet Pea closed the door behind them and stayed outside to keep watch.

Cheryl got a bit distracted looking around the trailer for a moment, which looked a lot like Sweet Pea’s, only somehow colder, harsher. It was weird to see the place that Toni lived in. Or, used to live in, she supposed.

“Sorry,” Toni said, pulling Cheryl back to reality, “no time for a house tour.” Toni chuckled at her own joke, and then headed down the little hallway.

Cheryl followed her down the hall and into a little bedroom. Inside was a twin bed on a wire frame, an old wooden dresser, and a small, cheap desk and chair. That was it, save for a little trash can and laundry basket.

Toni grabbed two bags, a duffle bag and a backpack, and looked at Cheryl. “Do you mind stepping into the bathroom and grabbing everything on the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet?” She asked, handing the backpack to Cheryl. “And just toss it in here?”

“Sure,” Cheryl said, grabbing the backpack and stepping back into the hallway. The bathroom was directly across the hall, she realized, and when she stepped in it, she realized just how tiny it was. She glanced at herself in the mirror, which had a crack, and then glanced around before realizing the medicine cabinet must be behind the mirror. She confirmed this as she gently pulled at the right side of it, and it came open.

The bottom shelf of it had some shampoo and conditioner in it, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, and a few other things. Cheryl tossed all of the things onto the backpack. “Just the stuff on that shelf?” she called to Toni.

“Yeah,” Toni called back. “Everything else is in here.”

Cheryl nodded, closing the medicine cabinet and then walking back over to Toni’s room. Toni’s dresser drawers were open and emptied, and everything that had been filling them was now stuffed into her duffle. Toni took the backpack from Cheryl, and tossed some makeup that had been on her desk into it. Cheryl just watched as Toni finished gathering up her stuff.

When she was done, Toni put the backpack over her shoulders and picked up the duffle, looking at Cheryl. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered quietly.

“A bit of a culture shock?” Toni asked, smirking a little.

“I guess you could say that,” Cheryl agreed.

“Come on, Red,” Toni said, nodding toward the bedroom door. Cheryl walked out of the bedroom and back down the hall.

“Is anything out here yours?” Cheryl wondered.

“No, if I leave anything out here, my uncle trashes it—or sometimes, pawns it,” Toni answered, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go.”

They left the trailer, and Sweet Pea glanced up a them. “Bout time, I was about to get worried.” He grinned jokingly at them, and Toni shook her head at him.

“You’re so weird. Come on, let’s bring this over to your place.”

They left the door closed, even though the lock was busted and anyone could just waltz in if they wanted to, and headed back to for Sweet Pea’s. “Is he going to get angry when he realizes?” Cheryl asked, referring to Toni’s uncle.

“Oh, for sure. But if I don’t live with him anymore, he pretty much has no power over me. And I can take him for sure, don’t worry, Red,” Toni teased. Cheryl rolled her eyes at the Serpent girl, who laughed a little in response. They got back to Sweet Pea’s trailer and Toni put her stuff by the couch. Cheryl realized that she hadn’t noticed the folded sheet and blanket sitting next to the couch, which must’ve been what Toni was sleeping on over Sweet Pea’s couch. “Oh, by the way,” Toni added, moving over to the small space between the side of the couch and the wall of the trailer, and reaching down to grab something. She straightened up, now holding a neatly folded pile of blankets and pillows. “This is your stuff you let me borrow for the Wyrm.”

“Oh, I had completely forgotten about it,” Cheryl admitted. “Thanks. I’ll have to remember to bring it with me when I leave.”

“Are you guys hungry?” Sweet Pea asked. “We should order pizza or something. Maybe we can go light the bonfire.”

Toni looked at Cheryl. “You down?”

“Sure,” Cheryl answered, nodding.

“Good way to start Spring Break,” Sweet Pea said with a grin.

So they ordered a pizza, and then left Sweet Pea’s trailer to head over to the firepit at the entrance of Sunnyside. It was unclear whether it was a permanent structure, or something that had been added since the weather had been colder, but it looked the same as when Cheryl had first been to Sunnyside.

When they got there, Sweet Pea realized he’d forgotten what he needed to light it, so he quickly ran back toward his trailer, leaving Cheryl and Toni alone by the firepit.

“Let’s start gathering up some logs for it,” Toni said, gesturing over to the wooded area around the trailer park. Cheryl followed her toward it, and they started gathering whatever fallen logs and things that they could find to toss into it.

“So,” Cheryl heard herself say suddenly, “how are you feeling about not being able to go back to your uncle’s?”

Toni shrugged. “I don’t care about him, and that place is hardly a home. It’ll be fine.”

“But it must be hard?” Cheryl pushed a little harder, watching Toni’s expression and noting that it stayed unchanged. Cheryl was used to masks, she wore them often, to keep people from knowing how she really felt. She could usually tell when other people wore them, and in this moment, Toni was keeping hers on tight.

“Look, Red. I don’t have time to be upset about it,” Toni insisted. “My life is different than yours. This isn’t something that’s ever been out of the realm of possibility. I started developing back up plans for where to live when I was _eleven_ years old. I’m fine, I swear.”

Cheryl nodded, understanding that the conversation was over. When they’d picked up an adequate amount of wood, they started back over to the firepit. There had already been some wood in it, but with the addition from Toni and Cheryl’s brief gathering, there was enough for it to light for a while. Sweet Pea was coming back by now, with some matches. “I was going to grab some lighter fluid,” Sweet Pea said, grinning at Toni, “but last time, that got out of hand.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Toni said, rolling her eyes and looking at Cheryl. “Trust me when I say, it was a disaster. It might not be the worst _idea_ ever, but Sweet Pea’s execution was… way worse than ideal.”

“I believe it,” Cheryl said, a small smile peaking at her lips.

Sweet Pea lit a match and threw it into the pile. The wood pile immediately caught fire, flaming up into yellow and orange flames. “Nice,” Sweet Pea said with a grin. “Now all we’re missing is the pizza.”

“And some beer,” Toni added.

Sweet Pea hummed thoughtfully. “Let me text Fangs. I bet his sister has plenty.” He grabbed out his phone, and Cheryl gave Toni a curious look.

“Fangs?”

“He’s another of our friends who lives here,” Toni answered. “He’s also a Serpent.”

“Is that his real name?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni snickered. “I’m surprised you’re asking that, but you’ve never questioned _Sweet Pea’s_ nickname.”

Cheryl thought for a moment, realizing that Toni was right, and she found herself smiling. “You make a good point.”

“Alright,” Sweet Pea said, “Fangs is bringing beers, and he’s going to join us.”

“So now we’re going to be having a party?” Toni asked.

Sweet Pea shrugged. “Wasn’t it a party already? Or not, since it was just us three? Would that make it a threesome?” He grinned at his own joke as Cheryl cringed and Toni faked a gag.

“Gross, Sweets,” she said, shaking her head.

They hung out standing around the fire for about ten more minutes, during which Sweet Pea ran over to the woods to grab a few more logs to feed the fire, and then someone else—Fangs—arrived, with a couple of people in tow, bringing many bottles of beer.

“Cheryl,” Toni said, “this is Fangs and his sister Felicity. And this is Joaquin.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Cheryl said to them, and Fangs and Joaquin gave her a greeting. Felicity, though, was looking at her rather skeptically. Nevertheless, Cheryl tried to give her a small smile. Generally, Cheryl didn’t try to get people to like her, but she knew what crowd she was in, and how dangerous it could be if she pissed one of them off.

The two pizzas that Sweet Pea had ordered came shortly after the beers arrived, at which point Fangs complained that they hadn’t ordered enough for everyone, and promptly placed an order for four more.

Meanwhile, Sweet Pea, Toni, and Cheryl started digging into the pizzas, and a few more people started to come out of their trailers to join them. Among them was Cody, who Cheryl immediately recognized, but who either didn’t recognize Cheryl, or at least pretended not to recognize her. She decided that she didn’t care to approach him for any reason, and she was actually happy when him and his friends arrived, because they brought out some plastic chairs, and Toni and Cheryl were able to sit down.

Cheryl found herself mostly listening to the conversations that were going on rather than talk much, because she didn’t know most of the people very well. She almost expected to feel like she did the first time she was at Sunnyside for a bonfire party, before she’d shown off her beer pong skills. Invisible.

But somehow, she didn’t feel invisible, even though she hardly contributed. She laughed along with the group, and Toni and Sweet Pea would often look at her while talking. It was nice to feel included, even if she was the most different from anyone else there.

A little while into the party, when Cheryl was on her second beer and was starting to feel a bit more comfortable around everyone, she saw two people approaching who she recognized—Betty and Jughead. Obviously, Jughead lived at the trailer park, but Cheryl didn’t know that Betty ever spent much time there. Of course, she didn’t really talk with Betty, so she didn’t really expect herself to know something like that.

Everyone greeted Jughead and even Betty, and the two of them came over to Toni and Sweet Pea, saying hey to them and then looking at Cheryl in surprise. “Cheryl,” Betty said, raising her eyebrows, “didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, well,” Cheryl said, “I was uh, helping Toni and Sweet Pea with something here earlier.”

“Yeah,” Toni confirmed, smirking, “we broke into my uncle’s trailer to steal all my stuff back.”

Jughead guffawed. “You did _what_?”

“Oh cool it, Jones,” Toni snapped, “it was all _my_ stuff that I took. He’ll just need to replace the lock.”

“Well you know he’s going to go to my dad now and complain about the Serpents,” Jughead tutted.

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “Chill, man. She needed her stuff, what was she supposed to do? He was refusing to let her inside.”

“Come on, Jug,” Betty said, “just drop it. This is a party, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Toni confirmed, “although it was supposed to just be a chill hangout, but.”

“Well, if this is a party,” Fangs suddenly interrupted, “then where’s the music?”

“We can go grab my speaker?” Sweet Pea offered.

Toni nodded. “I’ll get it. I need to go to the bathroom anyway.” She started to get up, and Cheryl felt herself tense a little at the prospect of being alone with everyone here. She trusted Sweet Pea, but she didn’t feel like answering anymore questions from Jughead or Betty, and she was still pretty sure that Felicity was giving her threatening looks. Toni must have noticed her reaction, because she looked down at Cheryl with those brown eyes and said, “Wanna come with?”

Cheryl nodded, standing up, and then following Toni back toward the trailer. “Not having fun?” Toni asked her, as they got far enough away from the party so as to not be heard.

“No, I am,” Cheryl assured her. “Actually, this is the most fun I’ve had at a party in a _while_.”

Toni smiled. “I’m glad.”

“So,” Cheryl began, “your uncle isn’t a Serpent?”

“No,” Toni confirmed. “He never got into it. He always thought it was stupid. It’s why he doesn’t like Sweet Pea’s family—all of them are Serpents. It’s probably why he hates me so much. But. They’re more of a family than he ever was to me.”

Cheryl just nodded, deciding not to ask any more questions, and they continued walking. They reached Sweet Pea’s trailer and went inside. “I’m going to go to the bathroom. I think the speaker is in Sweet Pea’s room down the hall—the one with the blue bed covers—if you wanna grab it?”

Toni turned into the bathroom as Cheryl continued down the little hallway, glancing into the two small rooms and entering the one with blue bedsheets. There were actually two beds in it, and Cheryl couldn’t fathom how Sweet Pea could share such a small space with anyone. She saw the speaker sitting on top of the one dresser in the room, so she grabbed it and then went back out into the main area to wait for Toni.

It was only about a minute later that Toni exited the small bathroom. “Got it?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, handing it off to Toni, and then they left the trailer.

As they started the walk back to the party, Cheryl’s phone began to buzz from inside her jeans pocket, where it had been for a while. She stopped walking to grab it and look at the caller ID, and Toni stopped a few feet in front of her, realizing that she’d stopped. It was a call from Heather.

“Do you need to take that?” Toni asked, drawing Cheryl’s gaze. She couldn’t read Toni’s expression, but she was almost sure of what the pink and purple haired girl was thinking. And Cheryl knew what would happen if she answered the call—Heather would ask her to do something. And Cheryl was genuinely having a good evening, _without_ Heather.

“No,” Cheryl answered.

She hit the button to reject the call, and they continued their walk back to the party.

While Sweet Pea and Toni set up music, Cheryl sat back down on one of the folding chairs and grabbed her phone. She now had three texts from Heather.

**Heather – Why didn’t you pick up?**

**Heather – My Greendale trip was a major bust. Only old men are at the bar tonight.**

**Heather – Are you done with your assignment? Let’s hang out!**

Cheryl wanted to ignore the texts, but she found herself typing a lie back instead.

**Cheryl – No, I still have a lot left. Sorry.**

**Heather – Lame. Let me know if you finish tonight.**

She decided to let the conversation end there, pocketing her phone as the music started blasting, and Toni and Sweet Pea came back over.

The party was in full swing by now. The other pizzas had long since arrived and been eaten, but now an older Serpent was standing outside a nearby trailer, grilling some burgers and dispersing them. Cheryl was in awe by how everyone had pooled their resources to have one big party, rather than one person hosting and purchasing everything. It made sense, because most people here could probably only even afford their contribution every now and then, like the guy with the burgers. Or Fangs’ sister bringing all of the beers.

Cheryl found herself interacting more and more as the evening went on, mostly because she got a little more drunk as she drank some more beer. But it was also because Sweet Pea had asked her a question, getting her to talk in a group of about ten people, and after that, she felt a little more comfortable doing so. She even made some jokes that people laughed at a few times, and she enjoyed it.

It was almost eleven when Toni’s eyes widened and she started kicking at Sweet Pea, nodding toward the entrance to Sunnyside. An older man was walking into the trailer park, glaring at the party. Toni turned to Cheryl. “That’s my uncle. We might need to dip soon.” She looked between Cheryl and Sweet Pea.

“Speak for yourself,” Sweet Pea said, “I’m not letting your uncle make me leave my own party.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s no evidence that you even helped, so I guess that’s fair.”

“I thought you weren’t too worried about him?” Cheryl asked.

“I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I want him to come cause a huge scene over here,” Toni justified. “But now he’ll notice if I go back to Sweet Pea’s trailer.”

“Well, then let’s go somewhere else?” Cheryl offered, tilting her head a little. Toni looked at her for a moment, Cheryl unable to read what she was thinking, before nodding.

“There’s a park a little ways down the road?” she suggested.

“Works for me.”

“Cool, let’s steal some beers and burgers first, though,” Toni suggested. Cheryl stood up from her seat as Toni told Sweet Pea that they were bailing. They then each grabbed a beer, said goodbye to Toni’s friends, and then went over to the guy making burgers to get two.

And then they started off down the street, leaving Sunnyside and heading toward whatever park Toni had been talking about. They walked in silence, and when they reached the park, they sat down at a bench overlooking an old, rickety looking playground, and started eating their burgers. Cheryl was surprised that she was hungry enough to, but she hadn’t eaten very much of the pizza from earlier. Toni _had_ eaten a lot of the pizza, but was somehow still able to eat her burger.

They couldn’t hear the party from here, so the only sounds were the gentle orchestra of crickets and the rustle of the wind through the trees surrounding the park. There were bright stars scattered around the night sky. Cheryl was starting to like the silence of places like this.

“You know, I expected to be able to hear more sounds indicating _crime_ on the Southside,” Cheryl admitted aloud.

Toni chuckled. “Trust me, we have those nights.” Another moment of silence. “So… was that Heather calling you earlier?” Cheryl nodded. “Why didn’t you answer?”

“I knew if it was an emergency she’d text me after. She _did_ text me after, but it wasn’t an emergency. So. I didn’t see a need to call her back,” Cheryl answered plainly. “I was having a good time.”

Toni gave Cheryl a look of feigned shock. “You mean _you_ , Cheryl Blossom, can have _real fun_ without Heather?”

Cheryl blushed a little, rolling her eyes. “If you keep that up, maybe I won’t be having fun anymore.”

“Just admit it, Red,” Toni teased, “you like hanging out with me.”

“More than I would’ve expected,” Cheryl admitted, chuckling. “It’s nice to hang out with someone who… I don’t know? Listens.”

Toni nodded. “You’re not so bad either.”

“I think talking to you about Heather has actually helped too,” Cheryl told her. “I feel like I might finally be starting to get over her. Although… sometimes it’s still hard to not go with what I would do for her in the past. You know?”

“Definitely,” Toni said with a nod. “Hey, at least you asked me for advice and not Sweet Pea. His advice would’ve been to get underneath someone else. He thinks that’s the only way to get over someone.”

“Trust me, I’ve tried that,” Cheryl admitted. “It did not work.”

Toni looked very surprised. “With a girl?”

“No…”

“Well then, how could you expect it to work?” Toni asked incredulously.

Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t know. At the time, I don’t think I’d really thought much about… sexuality. I knew I liked girls, but I hadn’t decided that I didn’t really like guys. I think until recently, I thought that maybe there was still a chance that I did. Although, my first time with a guy was… entirely forgettable. It wasn’t even really _bad_ , just so… boring. And a little bit disgusting.”

“Sounds like you should’ve known your sexuality by then,” Toni teased. “Except well, obviously it’s complicated. When I first realized I liked a girl, I thought that I must be a lesbian. It wasn’t until after that that I realized that I was still attracted to guys, and I gave hooking up with them a try.”

“So, have you only actually been with guys?” Cheryl wondered, before quickly adding, “Sorry if that’s… prying.”

Toni shrugged. “No, I’ve been with a couple of guys and a couple of girls.” Cheryl nodded, taking a drink of her beer. Her burger was half eaten, and she set it on the bench next to her as Toni started to finish her own burger off. It wasn’t until she’d finished eating that they spoke again. “I was surprised that you didn’t go give Cody a piece of your mind at the party.”

“Why?” Cheryl asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Toni shrugged. “He dumped Heather. I figured that would’ve pissed you off.”

“Everyone who dates Heather dumps her, because she picks guys who aren’t ready to settle down. It’s not really their fault. I guess he did it in not the greatest way but…” Cheryl shrugged, not knowing exactly how to finish her sentence. “Plus… I don’t know, even besides Heather’s usual issues, I guess I didn’t expect it to last.”

“Why?”

“Because… I don’t know. Don’t you think it must be hard to be in a relationship with someone who lives such a different life from you?” Cheryl asked, looking directly at Toni as she asked. Toni frowned a little, meeting her eyes.

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Look at Betty and Jughead.”

“But… Jughead isn’t fully living his life on the Southside, he goes to school at Riverdale High,” Cheryl justified.

“So? Betty still hangs out on the Southside a lot, she’s gotten to know a lot of the Serpents,” Toni said, explaining her outlook, “and Jughead’s been getting more and more into the Serpents lately. And she’s fully onboard with it.”

“I guess so. But Heather… I don’t know, she never really said good things about the Southside until we went to the White Wyrm that night, and then she was all into the guys there and saying that it wasn’t impossible to date them. And then, she and Cody broke up, and she’s back to thinking everyone on the Southside is terrible,” Cheryl explained.

“Well, how about you? You’ve gotten to know some of us,” Toni said, “and you insulted the Southside probably like ten times the first two times I met you. Do you still _really_ believe that it’s so hard to merge groups of people from either side?”

Cheryl shrugged. “Everyone here is just so different from the people that I know…”

“Obviously. But the question is, is that _bad_?”

Cheryl let the question hang in the air as she went silent, her thoughts wandering a little.

“You done with your burger?” Cheryl nodded, and Toni got up, grabbing both of their plates and Toni’s already empty beer bottle and walked them over to a trashcan. Cheryl’s gaze followed her, taking in her outfit for the first time that day. It was simple, because Toni hadn’t had all of her clothes until this evening. Just skinny jeans and a gray band t-shirt, tucked into said jeans. She wore the same combat boots that she’d been wearing the first time Cheryl saw her at the Wyrm. And of course, her Serpent jacket. The darkness of the outfit was a good contrast with the bright streaks in her hair.

Cheryl had never really thought about how pretty Toni was until she turned around, headed back to the bench, and Cheryl saw her face glow a little in the starlight. Her soft features, warm but fierce brown eyes, and her plump lips. She was objectively beautiful, even with her less girlish style and her crazy hair.

“What are you staring at?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Cheryl panicked for a moment, not sure how to answer, before a question suddenly popped into her head. “You have a Serpent tattoo somewhere.” Somehow, the question came out more as a statement, because as she was saying it, she realized that the answer must be yes.

Toni gave her a funny look. “Of course.”

“Where?” Cheryl wondered.

“My hip,” Toni answered. “I was going to do it on the back of my shoulder, but I wanted it somewhere where I could see it sometimes. So it can remind me of my friends and family, and that I belong somewhere.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what the initiation is for Serpents?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Toni smirked. “If you wanna know, I’ll tell you.” Cheryl nodded. “Well, for guys, it involves babysitting the Serpents’ dog—Hot Dog—and then memorizing all the things in the Serpent code.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Cheryl said.

“Oh, I’m not done, Red. Then, they have to reach into a tank with a snake in it, and _then_ , they get beaten up by all of the other Serpent guys,” Toni finished explaining.

“Oh… yeah, that sounds less than pleasant,” Cheryl agreed. “I’m now scared to ask about what it’s like for girls.”

Toni gave her a half smile. “The first three things are the same. But, since the founders of the Serpents were a more than a bit sexist… the last thing a girl has to do to join the Serpents is… to do a like… dance slash striptease performance. At the White Wyrm. In front of all the rest of the Serpents.”

Cheryl’s jaw dropped. “That’s absolutely barbaric! Aren’t so many of the Serpents like, _old men_? That’s disgusting!” It suddenly hit Cheryl that _Toni_ was a girl in the Serpents. “Did… did you have to do it?”

Toni nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve pretty much been a Serpent since I was born. But in that case, girls are allowed to do it either at age sixteen or eighteen. But you’re not fully a Serpent until you’ve done it. So I did it a few days after I turned sixteen.”

“You were _sixteen_ , and you basically stripped in front of all of those people?” Cheryl demanded. “That is absolutely horrific.”

Toni shrugged. “It’s whatever.”

Cheryl couldn’t help but feel like Toni brushed off more bad things that happened to her than she should. Maybe she really had processed them all and moved on, but it seemed to Cheryl like she was pretending to be okay about it all. Cheryl wasn’t exactly sure what gave her that impression, but she had it nonetheless.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, while Cheryl finished her beer, and then the redhead exhaled slowly and glanced at Toni. “I should maybe get home.”

Toni nodded. “Okay. I’ll walk you back to Sunnyside so you can grab those blankets and pillows.” Cheryl thought back to the single sheet and blanket she’d seen that were for Toni to sleep on, and she shook her head.

“Is it okay if I get them from you some other time?” she asked, trying to think of an excuse. “I don’t… really wanna walk through the party and have everyone ask why I’m leaving.”

Toni nodded. “Okay. Well, I’ll still walk back with you. I should probably face my uncle sooner rather than later—unless he’s already shut himself in his trailer. That would be ideal.”

Cheryl chuckled, nodding as they stood up. “Oh, and feel free to keep using those blankets and stuff until I get a chance to take them home. They won’t do anyone any good just sitting around unused.”

Toni stared at Cheryl for a second before nodding. “Alright. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

They walked back to the parking area in front of Sunnyside, and then Toni gave Cheryl a smile. “Are you going to be okay driving home? You had… what, three beers?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine,” Cheryl insisted. “They were pretty spaced out, I feel fine.”

“Okay…” Toni trailed off. “Past me would be mad that I’m letting you drive with alcohol in your system. After last time.”

Cheryl gave her a half smile. “I’ll be fine, I swear. I’ll even let you know when I get home.”

“Good. Drive safe, I’ll see you around.”

“Bye, Toni.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heather drama comes back in full swing when we come back on Thursday ;D Nice to have a break of her, though, huh?  
> So I have 2 more weeks of class before spring break! Thankfully, only one exam in that time period - it's tomorrow evening oof! Wish me luck! That's why my Sunday was so busy, I spent like 4 hours studying with some friends after spending about 4 hours the previous two days taking notes. And I still need to study more tomorrow before it ugh. Lol, anyway, it'll be fine! Other than that, the next two weeks are going to be filled with projects and homework assignments. Fun, right?  
> If you wanna keep up with my life, or just say hi, or whatever, feel free to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana ! I love talking on there, seriously! Always feel free to tweet at me :)  
> Again, thank you all so much for being here to read this chapter! I appreciate you so much! I hope you all have a fabulous week! Get shit done and take care of yourself, and love yourself a little harder in celebration of making it through the first two months of the year :) I'll see you all on Thursday! xx


	9. you clinged to my body

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl feels like she gets the upper hand with Heather, and Toni invites Cheryl out to get pizza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning lovelies!! It's a great morning for an update if you ask me! I've been doing SO MUCH school stuff this week, and I'll be doing a ton next week too, and updating is honestly one of my favorite reprieves haha. I just get so excited when you all get to read more of this story! Which is why I told my Twitter followers that if this story passes 4,000 hits by tomorrow, I'll post another update tomorrow night (Friday) AND on Sunday... ;D  
> For now, though, please enjoy Chapter 9 <3

Cheryl arrived home on Monday night feeling relaxed and free. It had been a surprisingly good evening spent at Sunnyside Trailer Park.

But as Cheryl got out of her car, in the process of texting Toni to let her know that she got home alright, she noticed another car parked into the driveway. Audi. Blue. Only one person in Riverdale had a blue Audi. Cursing under her breath, Cheryl pocketed her phone and hurried inside, expecting her night to immediately go to shit.

When she walked inside, she immediately heard Heather’s laugh coming from the dining room. Holding her breath, Cheryl walked through the house to the dining room, and sure enough, her best friend was sitting at the dining table, talking to Jason. “Oh, Cheryl!” Heather said, sounding too enthusiastic. It was a voice that Cheryl recognized. One that Heather used only when talking down to people who did stupid things that somehow fucked with Heather. It was horrible to hear it directed at her. “You’re home.”

“What are you doing here?” Cheryl wondered, glancing between Heather and Jason in confusion.

“Well, I was bored out of my mind, so I texted Jason asking if he wanted to hang out,” Heather answered pointedly, giving Cheryl a pointed look. “And he invited me over. And when I got here, well… your car was gone.”

“I went to get food,” Cheryl lied. “I had a burger at Pop’s, because I accidentally skipped dinner while working on homework.” She looked at Jason, who didn’t look convinced, and hoped that he could sense her need for him to back her up.

“Oh,” he said, realizing that she was expecting something from him, “I didn’t realize that was where you’d gone.”

Heather rolled her eyes. “Who knows if that’s where you really were though, Cheryl. After all, we’ve learned recently that you have a new habit of _lying_ about where you are.”

“I swear I had a burger,” Cheryl said, and at least in saying that, she wasn’t lying. “Why are you attacking me for that?”

“I just don’t think it’s very best friend like for you to lie to me,” Heather snapped, “and I don’t buy this burger story. You told me you had homework.”

“I went out for dinner,” Cheryl insisted, more of a stretch of the truth than a lie, “what’s wrong with that? I’m _allowed_ to go out and do things without you, Heather.”

Heather stood up from the table, her blue eyes narrowing into a glare. “Of course you are, but don’t you think you _owe_ me the truth about where that is?”

“You want to know where I was?” Cheryl snapped suddenly, feeling dread as she realized what she’d said. She had to follow through now, that or she needed to contrive a really complicated lie, and she didn’t have enough time to do that. Another stretch of the truth would be required. “I was on the Southside. At Sunnyside Trailer Park. There was a party, and I heard about it from Betty and I decided to go after I studied. And I didn’t want to tell you, because Cody was there.” It was a convenient detail of truth to make the partial-lie believable. “I didn’t want to make you think about him.”

Heather looked doubtful now, but more like she was doubting her own beliefs rather than what Cheryl said. “Why did you go to the Southside? You hate it.”

“I was finished with my homework and you were out and I was bored. Betty said there would be beer and burgers, so I went. And I lied to you when you texted me, because I didn’t want you to be upset that I was at a Southside party where Cody was,” Cheryl expanded on her lie.

Heather looked like she believed her now, and when she let out a sigh, Cheryl knew that she’d succeeded in hiding the truth. “Okay. That makes… more sense. Thanks for telling me.”

Cheryl couldn’t help but notice that Heather didn’t apologize for attacking her. “Man,” Jason said suddenly, “you girls are so complicated.”

“I’m going to go to bed,” Cheryl said.

“Wait, Cheryl—”

Cheryl didn’t wait, because despite feeling relieved that Heather was no longer mad at her, she was simultaneously angry that she’d gotten so mad in the first place and then hadn’t bothered to apologize. _Additionally_ , Heather had chosen to hang out with _Jason_ when Cheryl said she couldn’t, which could only have been done out of spite.

She made it up to her bedroom and locked her door, in case Heather tried to come in after her, and then grabbed her phone from her pocket, finding a text from Toni waiting for her.

**Toni – You get back alright?**

**Cheryl – Yes, sorry. I had a bit of a catastrophe as soon as I arrived home, before I was able to text you.**

**Toni – What happened?**

**Cheryl – Heather was at my house. I had to do a bit of half-lying to get her to not be pissed at me for lying about where I was.**

**Toni – Damn. Well… everything is fine now?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, and for once, I maybe even have the upper hand. She “forgave” me, but she never apologized and she chose to hang out with my brother when I told her I wasn’t free. The only reason I can think of for her to do that would be to piss me off. So, I’m officially mad at her, and this is the first time I’ve been mad at her and she knows it. Perhaps even the first time that I’m fully aware of it.**

**Cheryl – It actually feels kind of good to be angry. That’s probably a little fucked up.**

**Toni – I don’t think it is. It feels good for someone who’s treated you wrong to finally get a slight taste of how they’ve made you feel. I get that.**

**Cheryl – I think I’m going to get some sleep.**

**Toni – Good idea. I’ll see you.. when I see you.**

**Cheryl – Goodnight, Toni.**

**Toni – Night, Cheryl.**

* * *

“So,” Jason said the next morning, after he and Cheryl had both begun getting their separate breakfasts ready silently, “where were you really last night?”

“What do you mean?” Cheryl asked, giving him a confused look. “I was at Sunnyside Trailer Park, at a party.”

“Okay, but something you said last night to Heather must’ve not been true.”

“Why?” Cheryl demanded, knowing that she sounded defensive but not caring. “Did she put you up to asking me about this?”

“No, I swear she didn’t,” Jason assured her, “I don’t even really care. Just… I know you two are best friends, but the Cheryl I know never gives away a secret once she’s chosen to keep it.”

Cheryl relaxed a little—Jason sounded genuine. And he was right, too. Cheryl never lied to Heather in the past because after doing so and getting caught, she didn’t want to chance Heather finding out again. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t good at _not_ getting caught. After all, she was very used to lying to other people. “I maybe bended a few things,” Cheryl stated simply, her toast popping out of the toaster.

“But you really were at Sunnyside? Did Betty really invite you? Do you two even talk? I don’t see you hang out with anyone who’s not Veronica or Heather, and Veronica only hangs out with Betty when you’re not around,” Jason said. “Trust me, the guys on the team know everything about which girls hang out with who. Their reasoning is… not the greatest, but… yeah.”

Cheryl sighed. “I was at Sunnyside. Betty didn’t invite me, but she was there and I talked to her.”

“So how’d you know about the party?” Cheryl gave her twin brother a sideways glance as she buttered her bread. “Oh come on. Who am I gonna tell?”

“Look, JJ,” Cheryl began, “I appreciate you wanting to be closer again. Perhaps I’ve missed being close to you more than I thought. But we’re Blossoms, and because of that, it should go without saying that we each have our secrets. I’d rather not divulge mine at this time.”

Jason nodded. “Okay, fair enough.”

Aside from the brief conversation with Jason that morning, the second day of Spring Break was fairly uneventful. Cheryl stayed in and ended up watching some movies on Netflix. She received a couple of texts from Heather throughout the day, but anger from the night before had carried over, and it kept Cheryl from responding to her friend.

It wasn’t until the third day of Spring Break, Wednesday, that Cheryl ended up leaving her house again. After staying cooped up the day before, she was in desperate need to get out. So, she headed into to town to do some shopping. She ran into Veronica while she was out, and they chatted while shopping, and went to get lunch together. As they sat down to eat, Veronica gave Cheryl an interesting look.

“So I heard that you’re not talking to Heather right now?”

“Where’d you hear that from?” Cheryl asked, hoping she would say Heather and not anyone else.

“Heather,” Veronica answered. “Is it not true?”

Cheryl sighed. “I’m a little frustrated at her. She didn’t apologize for something that she did in her own anger. And she keeps trying to text me and say we should just forget it, but I just feel… unappreciated, I guess.”

Veronica nodded slowly. “I don’t really understand your guys’ friendship.”

“What do you mean?” Cheryl wondered.

Veronica shrugged. “You two are like, the strongest personalities I’ve ever met. I would think that together, you would clash too badly to be such good friends,” Veronica explained. “But I guess you two have some sort of special connection. I’m sure she’ll apologize eventually, and you two will be fine.”

_A special connection? More like, I’ve been obsessed with her for years and eager to please_.

The more Cheryl had thought about that as a concept, mostly since she started talking to Toni, she realized more and more that it was accurate to her situation. Whether or not Heather was manipulative like Toni said—although Cheryl had certainly picked up on some indications of that by now—she was, at the very least, the one always getting her way, because Cheryl would give in. It wasn’t healthy.

After lunch with Veronica, Cheryl decided to text Heather back and be honest.

**Cheryl – Hey. I wanted to be honest about how I’m feeling about this situation. I feel like you sought out Jason and came to check if I was lying about where I was out of anger or spite, and I don’t appreciate that. I also believe that I am entitled to keep some things to myself. I don’t want to lose you, so I hope that we can talk this out. But I feel unappreciated and invalidated and that is why I avoided you yesterday.**

She didn’t get a response right away, so she pocketed her phone and returned to her shopping spree.

She returned home in the afternoon with multiple bags of things she’d bought—mostly clothes for the spring and upcoming summer. She’d found herself drawn to a bit more sexy things than she usually would pick out, and she wondered if she was becoming a bit obsessed with Toni’s wardrobe—her fishnets and crop tops and torn up jeans. It was a bit grungy, and Cheryl liked that.

Speaking of Toni, as Cheryl was unpacking her shopping haul, she got a text from the girl.

**Toni – Had to talk to my uncle today. He was pissed about the break in, but he agreed not to go to authorities or FP about it as long as I’m officially moved out. And I explicitly told him I have no intention of moving back in with him. So I guess I’m officially going to start paying rent to Sweet Pea’s dad pretty soon. He said he’s fine with me staying with them at least until I turn 18 this summer.**

**Cheryl – That’s good to hear. I’m sorry things didn’t go great with your uncle. Good thing that he’s not pressing charges or anything.**

**Toni – Yeah, honestly he has no idea how to do something like that anyway.**

**Toni – How are you doing? Still dealing with aftermath from Monday with Heather?**

**Cheryl – Sort of. I texted her explaining why I’m avoiding her and why I’m frustrated with her. No response yet, but it feels good to be honest with her.**

**Toni – I’m glad.**

**Toni – So you think you two will be hanging out tonight?**

**Cheryl – I doubt it. Even if she texted me with an apology right now, I’d like to think I would put off hanging out with her until tomorrow at least.**

**Cheryl – Why?**

**Toni – I was supposed to work tonight, but this other bartender really needed to pick up the shift to meet her rent payment, and since I’m not starting to pay rent until next week, I let her have it. So, now I have nothing to do. And Sweet Pea and Jughead are playing Call of Duty, the one game that I hate.**

**Cheryl – Well, I’m free. Where do you want me to meet you?**

**Toni – Hmm. There’s this great pizza place near the White Wyrm?**

**Cheryl – Alright. Send me the address, I’ll leave in a couple of minutes.**

Cheryl decided that before she left, she would change into an outfit a little more appropriate for fitting in with people on the Southside. She swapped the red blouse she’d been wearing with a new red crop top, and grabbed her leather jacket from her closet. She’d had it for a long time, but didn’t usually wear it. It felt good on, though, like a way for her to separate herself from… well, _herself_.

As soon as she was dressed, Cheryl headed downstairs and outside to her car, sliding into the driver’s seat. She turned the key, her car rumbled to life, and then went silent. “Oh god, _again_?” Cheryl demanded. Rolling her eyes and letting out a frustrated sigh, she pulled her phone out again.

**Cheryl – My car just died again.**

**Toni – Oh shit, really?**

**Cheryl – Yep. So I guess I need to call a mechanic and stay in tonight. :/**

**Toni – I’m sure Sweet Pea and I can swing by a fix it tomorrow.**

**Cheryl – That would be really nice of you two if you could.**

**Toni – In the meantime… if you still wanna get pizza, I can pick you up?**

**Cheryl – With what? Your vehicle of death??**

**Toni – Oh come on, it’s perfectly safe. I’ll even bring you a helmet.**

Cheryl was about to refuse, but as she was about to hit send on her refusal message, something in her head told her that she should just go for it. She deleted her message and typed out a new one.

**Cheryl – Fine.**

**Toni – Okay, what’s your address? I’ll leave right now.**

Cheryl texted Toni her address, and then got out of her car, leaning against the hood and trying to find something interesting to look at on her phone while she waited for Toni. It was about ten minutes later that she sound of a motorcycle could be heard, and Cheryl glanced nervously at her house, hoping that no one would be able to hear it from inside.

She could see Toni when she pulled onto the Thornhill property, and then she was stopping next to Cheryl, placed her feet on either side of the vehicle and taking off her helmet. “Hey,” she greeted coolly, as Cheryl straightened up. She didn’t miss Toni taking in her outfit choice for a moment. “New jacket?”

“No, I just don’t wear it much,” Cheryl admitted.

“Heather doesn’t like it?” Toni wondered.

Cheryl was sad to admit that Toni was right. “No.”

“Well, I like it,” Toni said, cracking a small smile. “Good choice for your first motorcycle ride.” She suddenly twisted around to access some sort of bag that was attached to her motorcycle, and produced a normal bike helmet. “Sorry, this is all I’ve got extra. But you can use mine if you want to.”

“No, that’s okay,” Cheryl said, hesitantly approaching the motorcycle. “So what… I just… get on behind you?”

“Yes, and get comfortable,” Toni instructed, “and don’t be afraid to hold on. Like, seriously. If you don’t hold on, I can’t guarantee you won’t fly off.”

Cheryl frowned deeply. “Toni!”

“Oh come on, Red, you’ll be fine,” Toni promised, handing her the helmet. Cheryl took it and strapped it on, and then took a breath as she put one leg over the back of the seat. She settled onto the bike, straddling it behind Toni, and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl. “Okay, you good?”

“I guess so? Is there any way you can go slow?”

“Trust me, it’s much less pleasant if I go slow,” Toni swore. “I promise, you’ll be fine. Do you trust me?”

Cheryl was surprised by the question, but she was more so surprised with how confident she felt as she answered, “Yes.”

“Then don’t worry,” Toni insisted. She pulled her helmet over her head, and said a muffled, “Don’t forget to hold on!” And then she turned the motorcycle back on and revved the engine. Then, suddenly, they were moving.

Cheryl felt her heart drop as they picked up speed, and she found herself practically squeezing Toni in fear. They reached the main road, headed to the Southside, and Toni seemed to be going even faster. There wasn’t much traffic on the roads, Cheryl noted, which made her feel a little safer. She loosened her grip on Toni slightly, allowing herself a moment to look around her. Everything zoomed by, not unlike driving a regular car. In fact, the experience wasn’t much different than riding in her convertible. The wind whipped through her long hair, and she was grateful for her jacket, because the air was a bit uncomfortably cold against her pale face and her exposed stomach, but the jacket protected her arms.

Despite the sensation of being on the actual motorcycle, Cheryl started to realize just how close she and Toni were. Her entire front was pressed against Toni’s back, her arms wrapped around the Serpent’s stomach. It made her heart race, even more than the motorcycle did. Every now and then, some of Toni’s long hair would whip around near Cheryl’s face, and she would get a whiff of vanilla, probably the scent of Toni’s shampoo. It was a pleasant smell, and she didn’t even mind the little strands of pink, purple, blonde, and brown occasionally hitting her face.

And about halfway through their journey, Cheryl decided that she liked this. The freedom she felt, the rush of adrenaline she felt when they sped up a bit. They crossed the bridge to the Southside, and Toni slowed a little as she went around a corner, but it was fast enough to make Cheryl’s heart skip a beat. Instead of feeling fear, though, the experience pulled a laugh out of her throat, and she closed her eyes, taking in the feeling of zooming through the air.

Then they pulled to a stop, and Cheryl’s eyes flickered open. They were outside a pizza place, the one Toni had mentioned. She’d almost forgotten that they were even going anywhere. Toni pulled off her helmet and twisted around to look at Cheryl, who had released her hold on the girl and was leaning back a little. “How was that?”

“It was alright,” Cheryl said, trying to hide her enjoyment.

“Oh come on, I heard you laugh near the end there,” Toni teased. “Admit it, you liked it.”

Cheryl let out a breath. “Okay, I liked it. It was honestly… unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Similar to being in my convertible, but… even more freeing.” She left out the part about how much she enjoyed sitting right behind, and holding onto, Toni.

“So you acknowledge now that it’s not a _vehicle of death_?” Toni asked, to which Cheryl gave in and nodded.

“I still think it’s dangerous… but maybe it’s worth the danger. _Sometimes_.”

“Well, don’t worry, I never drive it drunk,” Toni teased, winking at Cheryl before climbing off of the bike. Cheryl blinked, wondering if she’d made up seeing the wink, but then realizing that she needed to get off of the bike also and take off her helmet.

They walked into the pizza place, and it was actually fairly crowded, mostly by people around their age and younger. There wasn’t a dedicated host to seat people, but they stood by the front door until Toni waved down a waiter, who ran over and gave them a smile. “Hey, Toni!” he greeted, then glancing at Cheryl. “Cheryl, right?” She was confused as to how he knew her for a second, and then he realized that she’d met this guy at the party the other day. Joaquin, Fangs’ friend.

“Right,” she confirmed, “nice to see you.”

“Yeah, you too,” he said. “Come on, there’s a table in my section you guys can have.”

They sat down at a little wooden table in the corner of the place, and Cheryl was a little surprised that there were even sections in such a little place on the Southside. She didn’t voice this thought, though, because she was sure it was coming from her own stereotypes of the Southside.

As they sat down, Joaquin handed them menus and asked what they wanted to drink. Toni ordered a root beer and Cheryl inquired as to whether they had cherry coke, and they did, so she ordered one, and he left them alone with their menus. “Cherry cola, huh?” Toni asked. “I’m sensing a theme in your whole, uh, _existence_.”

Cheryl shrugged. “What can I say? Red’s my thing, and cherry is a good flavor.”

“Yeah, Jughead told me that you’ve all but banned anyone else from wearing red at Riverdale High,” Toni said, sounding like she was mostly joking, but Cheryl was instantly confused as to why Toni was talking about her with Jughead.

“You and Jughead talked about me?” she asked.

Toni realized her mistake all of the sudden. “Well, not really. He just asked me yesterday how I knew you, and I mentioned that you and Heather came to the other bonfire party.”

“But then you kept talking about me?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni shrugged. “He was just really confused. Apparently, you are a very unlikely person to ever hang out at the Southside. Which I can’t say I was surprised to hear. Considering all the things you’ve said about Southsiders and the Southside in general.”

“Yeah well. I don’t necessarily stand by all those things I said before,” Cheryl admitted.

Toni lifted an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, Joaquin was returning with two sodas. “Here you guys go. Any idea what you want?” Toni looked to Cheryl.

“What kind of pizza do you like?”

“Anything,” Cheryl answered.

“Pepperoni?”

“Sure.”

Toni looked to Joaquin. “We’ll just take a large pepperoni.”

“Alright, one large pepperoni, coming up.”

“Thanks man,” Toni said with a smile, and he walked off. “Anyway. I wasn’t telling him anything you wouldn’t want me to tell him. He was just… I guess trying to explain why he was so shocked to see you at the bonfire the other day.”

“I bet you heard some _great_ things about me,” Cheryl said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Toni shrugged. “Don’t worry about anything I heard about you. Doesn’t matter.” Cheryl’s eyebrow twitched up a little in confusion, but she decided not to ask what exactly Toni meant by that.

While they waited for the food, Toni updated Cheryl about how her conversation with her uncle earlier had gone, beyond what she’d said in the text before. Then, Cheryl told Toni about her clothing haul from shopping earlier, and mentioned that her crop top was one of her new items. In response, Toni had said, “It looks really good on you,” and Cheryl found herself blushing slightly as she thanked the Serpent.

When their pizza came out, their conversation paused as they began to dig into their meal. It wasn’t the best pizza Cheryl had ever had, but after growing up pretty much not allowed to eat pizza thanks to her parents’ strict rules, she’d learned to love any pizza she could get her hands on. So it was definitely enjoyable.

When the check was delivered to them, Toni grabbed it immediately, and Cheryl frowned. “I can get it, Toni.”

“No, it’s okay,” Toni insisted, “it’s less than ten bucks, it’s fine.”

“Okay,” Cheryl gave in, “thank you.”

They left the pizza place after paying and saying goodbye and thanks to Joaquin, and they walked out into the cool air with nothing in mind to do. Toni turned to Cheryl and said, “You don’t need to go home yet, do you?”

“Nope,” Cheryl confirmed.

“I kind of feel like having a smoke…”

“Okay… where should we go?”

Toni shrugged. “We could go to the White Wyrm, but it’ll probably be full since it’s Spring Break. Hm. We could go to the alley behind it?”

“Okay,” Cheryl agreed. And that’s how they ended up clambering back on Toni’s motorcycle and taking off toward the White Wyrm. It was really close, so they were only one the bike for about a minute, and then they parked it in front of the White Wyrm, which was pretty loud with music and talking for a Wednesday night.

They went around the bar and to the alleyway that led to the forgotten little space that Toni had taken Cheryl to the first time they hung out to talk about Heather. Cheryl felt like a lot had changed since then—mostly with herself, internally. But additionally, some things between her and Heather had definitely changed. Not in the way she’d been hoping for before, but maybe it was for the best.

They ducked through the hole to get into the little space, sat themselves down on the crates, and then Toni pulled out her joint and lighter. Cheryl watched her as she lit it and then brought it up to her lips, sucking in and then releasing smoke into the air. It was somehow graceful, the way Toni smoked.

“You want a hit?” Toni wondered, offering her the joint. Cheryl accepted it, taking a hit off of it as well and then passing it back to Toni. She wondered if she would actually be able to feel the high this time, since she hadn’t been drinking.

“Smoking weed doesn’t keep you from being able to drive your motorcycle?” Cheryl wondered.

“Maybe some people, but not me. At least, I’ve never smoked enough that it’s been a problem,” Toni answered.

“That’s good.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t drive you home if I think there’s any chance I won’t be able to pay attention to the road,” Toni told her with a chuckle. They sat in near silence for about ten minutes, enjoying the silence of the evening and passing the joint back and forth once more. Then, Toni lowered her joint, resting her arm on her leg, and looked to Cheryl. “Do you think… or… would you mind if I took some photos of you?” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow, and Toni quickly added, “For an assignment for class.”

“Um, I guess I wouldn’t mind,” Cheryl answered.

“It would be just like a short and simple photoshoot. We could do it wherever. It’s for my art class, we’re finally doing photography and our first assignment is portraits,” Toni explained. “And… I think any of the guys would think it was dumb if I asked them, so.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind,” Cheryl said.

“Cool.” A small smile peeked at the corners of Toni’s lips.

Cheryl caught herself staring at Toni as they went silent again, the pink and purple haired girl lifting her joint to her lips one more time, before putting it out and pocketing it. When she looked up and at Cheryl, the redhead was immediately caught staring. “What?”

Cheryl tried to think of an excuse, but she couldn’t, so she just said, “I just zoned out, sorry.”

“You know one interesting thing that Jughead did mention to me yesterday,” Toni said, tilting her head a little.

“What?” Cheryl asked, wondering why Toni was bringing this back up.

“He said that you’ve coined the nickname Cheryl “ _Bombshell_.” Toni lifted an eyebrow, and Cheryl could read the amusement on her face.

“Yes, I have,” Cheryl confirmed. “What’s wrong with that?”

Toni chuckled. “I just thought it was funny.”

“It’s not like it’s inaccurate,” Cheryl defended herself, crossing her arms over her chest. At that, Toni’s gaze suddenly dropped down to Cheryl’s exposed stomach for a moment, and then back up to her eyes.

“No, it’s not,” Toni agreed with her quietly.

Cheryl felt warmth coming to her cheeks, and she had to shift her gaze away from Toni. “So, uh,” Cheryl said, trying to think of anything to say in break the tension, “are you and Jughead pretty good friends?”

“Kind of,” Toni answered. “We almost hooked up once, when we first officially met a while ago—before he started dating Betty—and since then we’ve been somewhere between acquaintances and friends.”

Cheryl was sure that a look of disgust was on her face. “ _You_ almost hooked up with _Jughead_?”

“Yes?”

“Ugh, let me just get that image out of my mind,” Cheryl muttered, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. Toni laughed at her reaction.

“What’s so terrible about that?”

“Jughead is just… _so not_ what I pictured your type to be like,” Cheryl answered vaguely.

“What do you think my type is then?” Toni inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

Cheryl shrugged. “I haven’t really _thought_ about it, but I figured the only person who had Jughead on their list of people they’re attracted to was Betty.”

“I bet you feel that way about most guys,” Toni teased. Cheryl thought for a minute, and realized that maybe Toni was right. “You know, being a lesbian and all.”

Cheryl sighed. “Yeah, you make a good point.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for another few minutes, but it wasn’t awkward or tense, just peaceful. Nice.

Cheryl started feeling sleepy, possibly from the weed, she realized, and voiced this to Toni, who offered to take her home. So they went back to Toni’s motorcycle and climbed on, and Cheryl wrapped her arms around the smaller girl once again. She held on tightly as they drove, but no longer entirely out of fear. No, she liked the feeling of being so close to someone, she realized. And she felt safe, despite flying down the road on a vehicle with no walls or seatbelts.

So free, yet so safe.

And when Toni dropped her off in front of Thornhill, thanking her for keeping her company, Cheryl was pretty sure she knew exactly why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoaaa that was adorbable, amiright? Thoughts on Toni right now? Thoughts on the climbing negative energy between Heather and Cheryl? When do we think it'll snap?  
> So I guess in my previous stories, when the main ship kisses for the first time around this part of the story, (~30,000 words) that that was a slow burn, and then later I would doubt that it actually was. So maybe I was wrong to doubt it, and with this story, I've made it like, a slow-slow-burn instead? XD I hope you guys are liking it. I promise, we're gonna get there, but Cheryl most definitely is not all the way there yet. And some shit has to hit the fan before we're gonna get there...  
> And that's why I'm considering posting some extra chapters here and there, not just on update days, because I know the burn is hard, and I really appreciate you all being here, so <3  
> Thank you for all of the comments on the last chapter, by the way! Seriously, replying to all of your comments makes me so happy, and I love hearing feedback of all kinds! So please feel free to keep on dropping comments when you come and read <3 And thank you all for the kudos as well <3 You are all so sweet and I'm a lucky writer to have readers like you joining me here twice (maybe thrice ;D) a week! I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I'll see you for sure Sunday, but maybe I'll get to see you tomorrow too? xx


	10. never really your type

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl, Heather, and Veronica go to Reggie Mantle's spring break party, and while the party isn't too eventful, the following morning is all too hectic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gooooood afternoon everyone! Thank you all for your continued support on this story! I hope you are all ready for an extra update :) I'll warn you, this one doesn't have much Choni in it. But it's important.  
> Your comments have all been so sweet! We still have some slow burning to get through, but after this chapter, the burn is going to change a little bit, and maybe the slight change of pace will help y'all get through it. Hope it's not too bad of a burn <3  
> Please, enjoy this chapter <3

For the rest of Spring Break, Cheryl would probably not be seeing Toni, because the Serpent had shifts to work every evening starting Thursday through Sunday. So Cheryl knew that it was time to make amends with her best friend, and thankfully, on Thursday, Cheryl finally got a response to the text she’d sent Heather the previous day.

**Heather – Hey, sorry I didn’t respond yesterday. I feel really bad about how you’ve been feeling, that really wasn’t ever my intention. Can we just forget this whole thing even happened? If so, let’s get lunch today. X**

So Cheryl met up with Heather for lunch on Thursday—after Sweet Pea came over to fix Cheryl’s car in exchange for the promise of Pop’s sometime in the near future—and Cheryl found herself forgiving the blonde for attacking her on Monday night. She noticed that she still hadn’t received an explicit apology, but she could tell that Heather _was_ sorry, so she let it slide. Plus, it had been weird to not have her best friend around the past few days.

On Friday night, they went out to Reggie Mantle’s big end-of-Spring-Break party, which was easily one of the biggest Northside parties of every year. Everyone got wasted, half of the guys ended up shirtless and a very large portion of people ended up hooking up after it. Despite how crowded and excessive it always was, Cheryl usually found herself enjoying it.

This year wasn’t any different from previous years. Veronica, Heather, and Cheryl all showed up together, in an Uber, with the intention of drinking as _much_ as they could. Four shots in, the three girls were definitely getting drunk, and they found themselves sitting in a big circle of people they hardly knew to play Never Have I Ever.

Cheryl could hardly pay attention to who was saying what because of how hectic the party around them was, but that didn’t stop her from playing along to the dumb game.

“Never have I ever fucked someone I wasn’t in a relationship with,” someone said, and Heather and Cheryl, as well as a number of people in the circle, all took a drink. Veronica seemed to flush a little as she took a drink as well, and Cheryl wondered if there was a story behind that.

Before she could think to even ask, though, the next person, a guy, began speaking, “Never have I ever kissed a _guy_.” Most of the girls in the circle lifted their cups to take a drink, and one of the guys did so too. A few of his buddies teased him for a second, and then the next person spoke up.

“Never have I ever… ridden a motorcycle,” she said, glancing around the circle. Only a couple of the guys took a drink, and then Cheryl brought her cup to her lips. Maybe if she’d been more sober, she would’ve chosen to lie, but she hardly thought about it as she did it.

“Whoa, you have?” Veronica asked in surprise. “With who?”

Heather was also looking at Cheryl in surprise, but her expression was a little more serious than Veronica’s. Cheryl shrugged. “I guess you’ll never know.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize Cheryl Blossom had so much mystery around her,” Veronica teased. “Well, on second thought, I definitely did know that.”

The game kept going, but Cheryl couldn’t help but feel like Heather kept giving her looks, so eventually, she excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she got there, she locked herself in it and sat on top of the toilet lid, pulling out her phone and opening her messages with Toni.

**Cheryl – Whoops, I’m drunk at a party and we’re playing Never have I Ever and I took a drink when someone said never have I ever been on a motorcycle and now Heather won’t stop giving me these like suspicious looks**

**Cheryl – Sorry, sorry I know you’re working**

**Cheryl – Like I said I’m drunk**

**Cheryl – It’s fine I’m just gonna pretend nothing happened**

**Cheryl – Hopefully she stops giving me those looks**

Shaking her head and feeling dumb for texting Toni at all, she pocketed her phone again. She stood up to look at herself in the mirror for a moment, and then went back out to join the group. But Heather and Veronica were no longer sitting in the circle.

She tapped the girl who’d been sitting by Veronica. “Hey, where’d they go?” The girl just shrugged, and Cheryl rolled her eyes.

**Cheryl – Hey, where’d you guys go?**

**Veronica – We’re outside by the pool! Needed some fresh air.**

Cheryl went outside, and sure enough, her friends were sipping their beers and standing by the edge of the pool. A few people were swimming, but Cheryl didn’t know how they were doing that in this temperature. “Hey,” she said, approaching her friends. “Got tired of the game?”

“It was boring,” Heather justified. She got out her phone and began texting someone, and Cheryl looked at Veronica in confusion. Her other friend just shrugged, and Cheryl took a drink of her beer. “Well, I gotta go.”

“What?” Cheryl asked in surprise. “I thought we were going to stay late?”

“Well, that was before I scheduled a hookup,” Heather said, shrugging.

Veronica lifted an eyebrow. “With who?”

“That’s need to know,” Heather answered, glancing between the two of them. “And don’t worry, if it’s not terrible, I’ll tell _both_ of you.” Cheryl was entirely too aware of how Heather was speaking, how she was emphasizing that Cheryl and Veronica were now on the same level of receiving information from Heather. It hadn’t ever been that way before. Cheryl always got to hear about the dumb guys before anyone else.

And as Heather excused herself and left the party, Cheryl expected to feel hurt or jealous, but no. She didn’t feel either of those things, just anger. Anger at how Heather was treating her for no reason. She thought they were over this dumb fight, but apparently mentioning the motorcycle had reminded Heather that Cheryl had been on the Southside secretly. Maybe she was thinking that the motorcycle was Cody’s, or maybe she just cared that Cheryl had been on _any_ motorcycle belonging to _anyone_ on the Southside.

“What’s up with her?” Veronica asked. “Are you two still fighting? You’ve seemed fine this whole time.”

“I thought we were fine,” Cheryl responded. “I guess I was wrong.”

“Well, don’t let her ruin the night,” Veronica insisted. “Let’s go do some more shots.”

* * *

Cheryl woke up with a terrible headache and her mouth dry as a desert. Groaning, she pressed her palm to her forehead, and tried to sit up. As she did, she immediately felt her stomach turning, and she quickly got up and forced her eyes open to run to her bathroom. She kneeled in front of the toilet, and emptied her stomach into it. She’d drank way too much the night before, which was evident now if it hadn’t been by the headache.

As soon as she was done, she flushed the toilet and stood up to clean herself up. She stumbled into her shower, turning on some cold water, and let it stab into her skin for a few minutes. It woke her up a little more, and only then did she turn the temperature up a little and start cleansing herself of the sweat and alcohol smell from the party last night.

She and Veronica had stayed until past midnight, so long that Cheryl’s phone had died, and she’d gotten completely wasted.

As soon as she was all cleaned and then dried off, she went back into her room and plugged her dead phone into her charger. Then, she dressed in just some black leggings and a loose white top. She didn’t really have any intention of leaving the house today, no, she needed a recovery day after the previous day.

Plus, she didn’t even really know where she would go if she did leave. Heather was apparently now mad at her, and Toni was going to be working all afternoon and evening. And there was no way Cheryl would feel up to leaving the house any time before noon at the earliest.

Once she was dressed, her phone was finally powering back on, and she found multiple missed messages from Toni.

**Toni – Whoa, sorry that happened, Red. Are you good? You didn’t drive did you?**

**Toni – Cheryl? Did you make it home?**

**Toni – Please text me when you get home.**

The last text was from this morning.

**Toni – If you haven’t texted me by an hour before I have to go to work, I’m going to your house and knocking on your goddamn door, so if you don’t want your Northside parents meeting me, you better answer.**

**Cheryl – I’m fine, sorry. My phone died at the party last night and in my drunkenness, I guess I forgot to plug it in. Don’t worry, I’m home and I’m fine.**

**Toni – Good. How you feeling?**

**Cheryl – Terrible. I need water and food, so I’m going to go do that. I’ll text you later when I feel better.**

**Toni – Okay, I hope you feel better soon.**

Cheryl left her phone there to charge, and headed downstairs. It was kind of late in the morning, so she wasn’t expecting her parents to still be around. They were usually only out and about the house if it was early in the morning, otherwise they were in their studies, sitting rooms, or out. And the house was almost always empty everywhere else, especially since Cheryl’s Nana had been moved to a retirement home the previous year.

For those reasons, she was surprised to hear multiple voices coming from the kitchen as she approached it. One of the voices was definitely Jason’s, so maybe he had someone over.

But as she walked into the kitchen, she instantly froze. Standing next to Jason in the kitchen was _Heather_. But she wasn’t wearing any of her usual outfits, and her face wasn’t all made up. No, she was wearing a pair of Jason’s sweat pants, and one of his t-shirts. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was helping him make eggs. Apparently, neither of them noticed Cheryl walk in, until she’d been standing there frozen for almost a minute.

“Cheryl,” Heather chimed, in the fakest tone she could probably muster. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I live here,” Cheryl growled.

“Well, I’ve heard you’ve been spending more and more time at night _out_ , somewhere that nobody knows, so I wasn’t sure anymore,” Heather bit back.

“Did you two…” Cheryl looked in between Heather and her brother, already knowing the answer.

Jason looked dumbfounded by this conversation. “Cheryl, she told me that you said you didn’t care, she said—”

“ _Shut up_ , Jason,” Cheryl snapped. “What the _hell_ Heather?”

Heather shrugged. “What can I say, Cheryl?”

“Well to start, you can explain to me _why_ you are being such a _bitch_ lately!” Cheryl exclaimed, her anger taking over for a moment. Unfortunately, her raised voice drew the attention of her parents, and her mother was suddenly walking into the kitchen.

“What on _Earth_ is going on in here?” she snapped, looking at the three teenagers. All of them were silent. “Take it somewhere else, I don’t want to hear your stupid teenager drama.”

“Fine,” Cheryl snapped, looking back at Heather.

“No, I don’t think we need to take it anywhere else,” Heather countered, “I don’t think we need to talk about this anymore, Cheryl.”

“No, I think we do,” Cheryl argued, walking further into the kitchen and grabbing Heather’s wrist, “come on, we’re talking about this.” Heather gave in and let Cheryl drag her upstairs to her bedroom. There, she slammed the door and looked straight at Heather. “Okay, _explain_.”

“I don’t owe you an explanation about me sleeping with anyone, _Cheryl_ ,” Heather snapped.

“You didn’t just sleep with _anyone_ , Heather, you slept with my brother! And don’t even act like you didn’t do it just to piss me off. Because I drank in Never Have I Ever, about the motorcycle? How childish do you have to be?” Cheryl demanded.

“Oh, childish, huh? Childish like _lying_ about where you are every night that you disappear and making up dumb excuses?” Heather asked. “You are such a hypocrite!”

“Okay, I lied about where I went a couple of times. But that is _not_ the same as what you just did! You _swore_ to me that you would never get with my brother, and then what do you do?” Cheryl exclaimed, knowing that she was letting herself get too angry, but unable to stop it at this point. “As soon as you get mad at me, you go and do the _one_ thing I made you swear to never do!”

“The one thing?” Heather demanded. “I’ve done so many things for you, Cheryl! _Countless_ amounts!”

“Oh really? Name literally any of them!”

Heather opened her mouth for a moment, but nothing came out.

“Yeah, that’s right, because everything you’ve ever done for me was to fix something that you did _wrong_ to me,” Cheryl said, trying to calm her voice a little. “Because you are manipulative.”

“I am _not_!” Heather denied. “I’m not manipulative, you’re just too _soft_ , Cheryl! You’re weak! You want everyone to think that you’re so strong and badass, but you’re not at all! You never have been!”

“That isn’t true! I’m strong, stronger than you’d even fucking know,” Cheryl argued, “just because you’ve seen the soft side of me doesn’t mean that’s all there is.”

“No, you know that I’m right. You’ve always wanted to be my best friend because you wanted to be like me, you wanted to be strong and be able to control people. But in reality, you know that you’ll never be able to, so you’ll keep coming back to me to do it for you,” Heather asserted, crossing her arms.

“That’s not—”

“True? Are you sure? How come you get so shy when we go to parties? You mean to tell me that there’s a reason other than the fact that you aren’t as brave as you thought you were? How about with Chuck Clayton? You went straight to me to fix the problem for you. Why not do it yourself?” Heather demanded.

“Because I was hurt! I was upset, and I needed the support of a friend!” Cheryl defended herself. “And as far as being shy, it’s because you _steal_ everyone’s attention from me! When I want attention, I can get it. But if you’re there, you do everything you can to be the center of _everyone’s_ attention, and I, being the good friend I am, don’t take it from you.”

“All of your excuses are just as lame as the ones you kept giving me for why you lied.”

“They aren’t excuses, Heather!”

Heather rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, Cheryl, the fucking point of this whole stupid fight is that I can sleep with whoever I damn please, okay? All of this other stuff is ridiculous and you are being _so_ immature for trying to blame me for all these other things.”

Cheryl’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me? _You_ are the one attacking me about all of this other stuff!”

Heather ignored her, and continued where she left off. “And why do you even care so much if I’m with Jason or not? When we were younger I got it, because in middle school that’s against the rules—you don’t date your best friend’s brother. But we’re _seventeen_ , Cheryl, we’re practically adults. You need to grow the fuck up.”

“That’s not why I didn’t want you to date him,” Cheryl snapped, feeling her anger surge again.

“ _Really_?” Heather asked, dragging out the word in obvious disbelief. “Then, please, Cheryl, enlighten me as to why you cared _so_ much about me hooking up with your brother.”

“Because, Heather, I _fucking_ liked you!” Cheryl shouted, before immediately realizing her mistake. In her anger, she’d lost self-control, and it slipped.

Heather looked shocked at the revelation, her eyes going wide. “You _what_?”

Cheryl took a deep breath, but it was shorter than she meant it to be, and she felt like she couldn’t get enough air.

“You _liked_ me?” Heather demanded. “As in, you’re _gay_?”

Cheryl couldn’t answer—she couldn’t hardly breathe. She stumbled to the side, falling onto a seat on her bed. “I—I…”

Heather sighed. “Of course you are. It’s no wonder. God, Cheryl. All of this drama because of _that_? You’re not that special you know. You could’ve told me, and I would’ve told you then, like I’m about to tell you now, that it’s _never_ going to happen. Your personality is just _not_ my type.”

Cheryl felt her breath returning to her as she glared at the blonde. “Well good, because I’ve recently learned that your personality is just not _my_ type either.”

“Sure it isn’t,” Heather said sarcastically. “Admit it, Cheryl. You’ll never stop coming back to me. That’s been your fatal flaw, and that’s why you think that I’ve been manipulative. You hate that you keep coming back, knowing it’ll never happen, but you keep doing it anyway. You’re a masochist.”

“You _are_ manipulative, you _bitch_.”

“Whatever, little cherry,” Heather said, her voice sounding simultaneously gentle and harsh at the same time, “I have better things to do, so…” Heather gave her a wave, and then she left the room, leaving Cheryl sitting on her bed, baffled at what had just happened. She’d just accidentally admitted to her best friend that she’d liked her, and now… she didn’t even know what was going to happen.

Taking in a deep breath, Cheryl realized that she still hadn’t eaten anything. She glanced around her room, looking for her backpack. When she found it, she went over to it and retrieved the water bottle she used for school. It was week old water at this point, but after this morning and the screaming match she’d just had, she needed it.

She downed it all and then went over to her phone, her hands shaking a little.

**Cheryl – Hey… I just had the craziest shit happen, and I told Heather that I liked her.**

She bit down on her lower lip, impatiently waiting for Toni’s reply. She needed Toni right now, she was the only one she could talk to about this. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long for the reply.

**Toni – Oh. Nice.**

**Cheryl – You’re not going to ask me how it went?**

**Toni – Sorry, Red, FP is calling me for some Serpent stuff so I don’t have time to talk.**

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows, unsure if Toni was telling the truth.

**Cheryl – Really? Can you talk for just a minute?**

There was no immediate reply.

**Cheryl – Toni?**

**Cheryl – Come on, I need to talk to you.**

Still no reply. Cheryl didn’t understand why Toni was suddenly ignoring her, but she did know that it was the last thing she needed right now. She fell back into her bed, squeezing her eyes shut as tears began to leak out of them. Sobs began to wrack her body, her body aching after being sick this morning and not having eaten since before the party the night before. But she couldn’t even think about that right now. All she could think about was how terrible this morning had just gone, and how she felt so, so alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay okay I'm sorry I know that's a horrible way to end a chapter and I'm sorry!  
> Cheryl justifies this in the next chapter, but the reason she didn't just flat out tell Toni what happened in the first text was because she wanted to talk in person or over the phone - she hasn't had time to process it at this point, she's not really thinking right-she nearly had a panic attack, after all. I just know that someone is going to give me shit for it, but please be kind. <3  
> I know you guys are probably really happy this chapter came on a Friday so the next update will come on Sunday instead of in 3 days.... but who knows, maybe I will feel like updating again tomorrow... it's always possible! Seriously, not saying whether I will or not, it'll depend on how many people have had time to read this update.  
> As a side note, I have been working on the Toni POV of this story. Currently, I've made it through 5 chapters. It's more challenging that I was expecting, because to make it worth it, I have to add a lot about Toni's past and things that go on with Toni that don't involve Cheryl. But I do think it will be an interesting read to anyone interested, after finishing this story.  
> Anyway, I hope you all don't hate me too much, and I hope you have a great weekend <3 Thank you all for spending some of your Friday here reading this story! I will see you all for sure on Sunday!!


	11. i saw the signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl isn't hearing back from Toni in this time where she so desperately needs to talk to her, and to get to the bottom of why Toni is avoiding her, Cheryl seeks out someone else who can help her get insight into what Toni is thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! You guys seriously blew me away with the comments on yesterday's update. Seriously, I got so many comments within just a few hours of posting and it made me so happy and I seriously appreciate you all so much. So, I can't promise that there will be so many updates every week, but I just really wanted to get through these few chapters and since so many people have been reading as I've been posting, I figured posting again today was fine. Plus, there's some angst happening, obviously, and I don't wanna make y'all wait for 2 weeks to get through all of it. This story is so long - what's the harm of updating extra sometimes?  
> Also, I did/am doing a Periscope livestream on Twitter @BrittzandTana to talk about this story! It might be over by the time you're reading this (if you're early I might still be here, come look), but if you're interested in hearing about my writing process or asking questions or anything like that, let me know and I can do more Periscopes in the future! Plus, maybe some sneak peeks into the future of the story!  
> Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy this update! xx

When finally Cheryl stopped crying, sometime around noon, she dared to leave her room and go eat food. Thankfully, neither Heather nor Jason were anywhere to be found, so she made herself a sandwich in peace and then brought it straight back up to her room. She knew that Toni’s shift hadn’t started yet, so she attempted to text her again.

**Cheryl – Please let me know when you’re free. We really need to talk.**

No reply. Cheryl let out a deep sigh.

During her crying, she’d been trying to think of why Toni would suddenly choose to ignore her as soon as Cheryl told her that she’d told Heather that she’d had feelings for her. The only reason that Cheryl could come up with was that Toni was upset that Cheryl told her, which wasn’t a huge surprise. What was a huge surprise, at least to Cheryl, was that Toni would be so disappointed that she would just refuse to listen to Cheryl talk about it.

Once she’d eaten and she felt a little more alive, she tried texting one more time.

**Cheryl – I don’t know if you’re ignoring me or if you really are busy. But I need to talk to you. So please just text or call me when you can.**

Still no response.

Sighing to herself, Cheryl curled up in her silk sheets and fell asleep, somehow even more exhausted then when she’d woken up..

* * *

At around four in the afternoon, Cheryl woke up again to a knock on her door. She let out a scratchy, “Come in,” and her brother opened her door, appearing with a plate of food.

“Hey,” he said gently. “I came to apologize.”

Cheryl sighed. “Don’t worry. You don’t need to. I’m not mad at you.” It felt weird to admit that out loud, but it was true. She believed her brother when he said that Heather lied and said Cheryl was fine with it.

“Really?” he asked, puzzled.

“Yeah. Heather told you she was fine with it, and you’ve always liked her. She took advantage of you because she’s manipulative and terrible,” Cheryl snapped. “Did you bring me food?”

Jason approached the bed and handed Cheryl the plate of food. “I just noticed you hadn’t left your room in a while, so I figured you might be hungry.”

“Thanks,” Cheryl said, starting to eat.

“Also… it was definitely totally lame of Heather to lie to me and say that you were okay with us hooking up… but you deserve to know, we’ve been texting back and forth since you told her there was a family emergency. And… I think I genuinely kind of like her,” Jason admitted. “But, if you don’t want me to date her, I won’t.”

Cheryl looked at him with concern, swallowing her bite of food. “It’s not that I don’t want you to, although… I don’t, I guess. But I want you to make sure you really know her before you do. Because I’ve realized lately… that she’s not as great as I thought she was.”

“Because you’ve been fighting with each other?” Jason asked.

“No… I’ll tell you about it sometime. I’m not ready yet,” Cheryl admitted.

Jason just nodded. “Okay. Well. I’ll keep that in mind, but… I’m going to have to keep talking to her if I want to make sure I really know her.”

“I guess so.”

They sat in silence for a moment, and then Jason stood up. “Well, I’m going to go. I’m sorry that you two are fighting.”

“Wait, Jason… did she say anything to you? After she left my room?”

He shook his head. “No, she just left, saying she needed some time alone. Why?”

“No reason. Thank you for the food.”

“Anytime, Cher.”

* * *

It was well after the start of Toni’s shift the next time Cheryl texted her, but she didn’t know what else to do, so she figured it was worth a shot nonetheless.

**Cheryl – Can I meet you somewhere when you get off?**

No response, as expected, but maybe Toni would see it when she got off and would finally respond. Or maybe she was ignoring all of Cheryl’s texts, and wouldn’t reply no matter what it said.

Sighing, Cheryl thought about how she could possibly stop by the Wyrm in the evening to see if she could catch Toni at the end of her shift. She could also, potentially, stop by Sunnyside. It’s not like she had anything else to do.

But she wasn’t sure that she felt completely comfortable with doing either of those things. Without Toni already by her side, she would definitely feel out of place walking in, and probably she wouldn’t feel particularly safe either. She had no idea what the best way to try and get Toni to talk to her was, other than to repeatedly text her and hope that she replied.

Then she realized that she _did_ have the number of someone else who was friends with Toni—Sweet Pea. And, conveniently, she currently owed him Pop’s for him fixing her car.

**Cheryl – Hey Sweet Pea. Want that Pop’s I owe you?**

**Sweet Pea – Oh hell yeah! But, you know Toni’s at work, right?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, that’s fine.**

**Sweet Pea – Okay! What time?**

**Cheryl – Maybe in like an hour?**

**Sweet Pea – Works for me! See you there, Red!**

Cheryl gave herself the hour to get ready, because her face was still bare and she hadn’t been motivated enough to get completely dressed yet. So she dragged herself out of her bed and put on some real clothes, then going into her bathroom to get some makeup on her face—make her look presentable. Thankfully, she didn’t feel terrible from her hangover anymore, just sad from this morning, and hungry, since she’d barely eaten two full meals and it was now early evening.

Once she was ready, she headed for Pop’s.

She got there before Sweet Pea, so she went inside and got a booth, ordering herself a strawberry milkshake for now. Before it was even brought over, Sweet Pea walked in to the diner, looking around for a moment before finding Cheryl and coming over. “Hey, Red,” he greeted. “How you doing?”

Cheryl just shrugged in response. “How about you?”

“Pretty good,” he answered with a nod. “Can’t complain. Except for the fact that school starts up again Monday. I’ll complain about that for _hours_.”

Cheryl chuckled, and then a waiter arrived with her milkshake, and took the rest of their orders. Cheryl made sure to order herself a burger and fries, hoping that she would be able to fill up from both of those and the milkshake, and Sweet Pea ordered a different burger with fries, as well as a chocolate milkshake. As soon as the waiter was gone, Cheryl swallowed thickly and began her lowkey investigation. “So, how was the Serpent stuff earlier?”

Sweet Pea furrowed his eyebrows. “What Serpent stuff?”

“Oh, I texted Toni and she said that FP was calling her to help with some Serpent stuff before she went to work,” Cheryl answered, pretending to believe what the girl had said. “Maybe you just didn’t know about it?”

Sweet Pea shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make any sense,” he countered, “FP and some guys are already out of town closing a deal for the gang. He wouldn’t have called her to do anything. And I’m pretty sure she was in the trailer until she left for work.”

“Oh,” Cheryl said, sad to hear the answer even though she’d expected that Toni had lied to her as an excuse to ignore her.

“I wonder why she said that,” Sweet Pea said. “Hey, is everything okay? You seem sort of… off. Sad, maybe. I’m not really… good at this emotions shit, but you don’t seem like yourself.”

Cheryl took a breath. “I’ve definitely been better.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Sweet Pea asked. “Like I said, I’m not the best with emotions and all that, but Toni at least says that I’m a good listener. She rants to me about her shit all the time.”

The waiter appeared to drop off Sweet Pea’s milkshake, said that their food would be out soon, and then walked off again, and Cheryl let out a quiet sigh. “It’s complicated. There’s a lot of stuff going on. I really need to talk to Toni, but I guess she’s been ignoring me since this morning.”

“Really? That doesn’t seem like something she would do,” Sweet Pea commented. “What’s the complicated stuff going on?”

Cheryl looked down at the milkshake in front of her, her fingers gently touching the sides of the glass. Her brain felt like it was working a mile a minute, trying to decide if it could be worth it to divulge her biggest secret to Sweet Pea, who she barely knew. But when Toni had found it out, she’d also barely known her… “If I say, I need you to be sworn to secrecy. At least, for now.”

Sweet Pea laughed a little at that. “Who would I tell?” She looked back up at him, her expression serious, and his smile disappeared. “Okay yeah, I swear I won’t tell anyone. Don’t worry, I’m great at keeping secrets.”

Cheryl glanced around Pop’s, but she didn’t see anyone from Riverdale High, and most people seemed completely occupied by their food and conversations. Taking in a shaky breath, Cheryl leaned forward slightly and said aloud, for the first time ever, “I’m a… I’m a lesbian.”

Sweet Pea tilted his head. “Okay… wait, that’s great. Does Toni know?”

Cheryl was very surprised at this response. “Yes, she knows, that’s the point. I’ve been talking to her about it for a while now… because I have… or well, _had_ , a crush on my friend. Toni’s been… there for me, I guess, while I’ve been trying to figure all this out. I’ve known for a long time, but it wasn’t until I started talking to Toni that I really _allowed_ myself to acknowledge it, I guess.”

“Oh, okay.” Sweet Pea looked more confused now than after she’d just said she was gay. “So… then you need to talk to her urgently today, because…?”

“Because,” Cheryl continued, “I had a _huge_ fight with my friend, the one I liked. And it escalated way beyond the issue at hand, because there were a lot more underlying issues than I had ever realized in the past. But that’s not important, what matters is that during the fight, I somehow ended up admitting to her that I liked her. And she was still pissed at me about the other stuff we were fighting about, and I don’t think she’s told anyone, but I don’t know what to do and…”

Cheryl realized that tears were on the verge of escaping again, and she took a moment to take in a deep breath. “Oh.” Sweet Pea said, nodding slowly. “Yeah… that sounds like a lot of drama for sure. Toni’s not the biggest fan of drama, maybe that’s why she’s avoiding you?”

“I didn’t even tell her about all of the drama,” Cheryl told him, “I didn’t get the chance before she stopped replying and reading my messages.”

The waiter was arriving now with their food, and they both went silent, besides the quiet thank you they both gave the waiter as their meals were set out in front of them. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes after, digging into their food. Cheryl’s body was very happy to be getting more food.

She thought through everything she’d just told Sweet Pea, and then remembered the other odd thing about Sweet Pea’s reaction to her coming out. “Um,” she started, drawing his gaze, “why did you say ‘that’s great’ when I told you that I’m gay?”

Sweet Pea looked uncomfortable for a second, but he gave in to whatever internal dilemma he’d been having and said, “Well, I was going to say that if Toni didn’t know, she’s probably be happy to find out.”

“Why? Because she’s bi?” Cheryl asked back.

Sweet Pea looked a little surprised that Cheryl didn’t seem to know whatever it was that he was talking about. “No, Red, because it’s obvious that she has feelings for you.”

Cheryl’s eyes went wide. “Wait… really?”

“You’re telling me that you had _no_ idea that she likes you?” Sweet Pea demanded. Cheryl stayed silent as she thought about it. She didn’t think there had been any indication, but then she thought back to when they went to get pizza. How close their bodies had been together, how good it had felt. But that was just to Cheryl, how was she supposed to know what Toni had been thinking?

Then she remembered the brief conversation they’d had about Cheryl’s nickname, Cheryl Bombshell. And Toni’s agreement that it wasn’t inaccurate. She thought about that tension that she’d felt. She thought about Toni checking out her outfit multiple times that night—but had it been her outfit? She thought about Toni paying for their check, about everything they talked about. Had Wednesday night been a date all along?

“Oh,” Cheryl voiced, and Sweet Pea laughed, shaking his head.

“Man. I didn’t think you’d be so oblivious, Red,” he teased.

Cheryl chuckled, gears turning in her brain as she began connecting dots and trying to figure out what her next step needed to be. She took another bite of her burger, and once she swallowed it, she looked back at Sweet Pea, giving him a small smile. “Thank you for listening to me. And for telling me that. I think I’ve been… so focused on everything crazy happening in my life lately that I just…” She trailed off, unsure of how to say the rest.

“I get it,” Sweet Pea insisted, “and no problem. I’ll do just about anything for free food.” His voice was teasing, and it got another smile from Cheryl.

“I thought this food was paying you back for the car help?”

“Well, then I guess you owe me more food,” Sweet Pea informed her with a goofy grin, and Cheryl rolled her eyes, and they went back to eating their food.

When they finished their food, Cheryl felt full and content for the first time in the day. She drove herself back home and she knew that she needed to process everything that she’d learned from her conversation with Sweet Pea.

Toni had definitely lied to her about why she wasn’t answering her texts earlier, but apparently, Toni had liked Cheryl for at least some amount of time. If that was the case, then maybe that was why she was avoiding her. Cheryl hadn’t given her much information about what happened between herself and Heather in her initial text.

Cheryl read over it again: **Hey… I just had the craziest shit happen. I told Heather that I liked her.** It was vague, which had been intentional because Cheryl had been hoping to call Toni to talk about it, or at the very least she hadn’t wanted to bombard Toni with so much information all at once. She read it one more time, and realized that the tone of the text wasn’t necessarily _upset_. It was possible that Toni had read it and interpreted it to mean that Cheryl had told Heather, and it had gone _well_. And if Toni really did have feelings for her, that would be exactly what she didn’t want to hear.

Had Toni avoiding her really been her own fault, a direct result of her poor communication?

She settled into her bed as she drafted a text to send to Toni:

**Hey, please read this message—ignore the other ones. I had a fight with Heather, because she slept with Jason last night. We fought, and she said some horrible things to me, and told me that I had no good reason for why I wanted her to never date Jason. I got so angry that I couldn’t control what I said, and I told her that I liked her. She didn’t take it well, she didn’t explicitly say anything against the fact that I’m gay, but she did say some more harsh things before leaving, and I needed to talk to you about it. I’m sorry my first text wasn’t very direct. But I need to talk to you, I feel very alone and I don’t know what to do.**

She read over the message multiple times, but something was telling her that this was not something she should send to Toni as a text. Plus, there was no guarantee that Toni would even read it. She needed to talk to Toni in person. So, she found herself deleting the message.

She almost made the decision to go to the White Wyrm that night, to go and talk to her, but she convinced herself that it wouldn’t be a good time. Toni would be tired from work, and probably still mad—if she was mad—from this morning. Maybe if she went the following day, anything she chose to say would be more effective.

So, Cheryl resolved herself to going to Toni the next day to talk it out. She tried to imagine herself parking in Sunnyside and walking right up to Sweet Pea’s trailer, knocking and requesting Toni if she wasn’t the one who answered the door. She could hardly imagine herself following through with it, but she knew it needed to be done.

Despite how much sleeping she’d done all day, she found herself beginning to doze off pretty quickly, allowing her thoughts to wander back to all of the times she’d been out with just Toni. At the Drive-In, behind the White Wyrm, at the pizza place. How safe she felt when she was with Toni.

She had no idea how she’d missed it, but maybe Toni liking her wasn’t completely out of the blue.

And maybe, neither was _her_ liking _Toni_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know there wasn't any Choni in this chapter, but I hope that it was satisfactory anyway! I promise Toni will be in the next chapter :)  
> Thank you all so much for spending some of your Saturday here with me reading this update! I will update again probably tomorrow night. Your comments have been blowing me away though, please feel free to leave any of your theories or thoughts or anything in the comments below, or follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and tweet at me there! I will see you all tomorrow, have a lovely Saturday evening <3


	12. did i say something wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl confronts Toni to tell her what really happened with Heather, and also does her best to ensure that she won't be outed to the whole school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends! Happy update day! I know there's been updates every day since Thursday, just know that that won't be continuing unfortunately. It was a fun weekend of getting to update every day, and I'm glad it helped us get through the past few chapters without too much waiting haha. Hopefully the end of this chapter will be satisfactory and you'll be able to wait till Thursday with no problem :D  
> Thank you again for all of your amazing comments, I love hearing your thoughts and responding to you all! Don't forget you can also follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana to hear about updates, future Periscopes, or just about my life!  
> Please enjoy chapter 12!

Cheryl parked her car in the Sunnyside parking lot. It was ten in the morning, which she knew was still _kind of_ early since it was a Sunday, but she’d woken up ridiculously early herself, after getting so much sleep the day before. And she’d awoken feeling invigorated. No longer did she feel sorry for herself, no. She wanted to get to the bottom of everything, which included probably trying to talk to Heather to make sure that she had no plans to out Cheryl to the whole school. Cheryl wanted to believe that the girl who had been her best friend since childhood would never do such a thing, but she didn’t know for sure that she could still trust Heather.

But for now, that was not’s Cheryl’s priority. No, her priority was to get Toni to stop ignoring her, and she would deal with Heather once Toni was at work. She just wanted as many things fixed as possible, she hated how fragmented everything in her life suddenly felt. She felt so, _so_ alone, surrounded by the broken pieces of her life and trying, so hard, to hold them all together.

Cheryl took a deep breath as she walked into the trailer park. There were some people out and about, a couple of neighbors chatting while their dogs ran around playing. They eyed her curiously as she walked by. She thought she recognized them from one of the parties, so perhaps they weren’t entirely shocked at seeing her here.

She had walked into Sunnyside alone once the previous week, but maybe that had felt less scary because she’d come knowing that she would just be hanging out with Toni and Sweet Pea. This time, she had a plan, but whether or not that plan would get executed in the ideal way, she had no idea.

Reaching Sweet Pea’s trailer, Cheryl realized that her heart was beating incredibly fast. She had texted Toni this morning before coming over, giving her a heads up that she would be stopping by, and that had basically confirmed that Toni wasn’t reading her texts, because there had been no response. And if Toni had seen it and hadn’t wanted her to come by, she probably would have given in and texted her back.

That or, Cheryl realized, she would just make herself scarce.

Hoping that wasn’t the case, Cheryl took in a deep breath as she approached the trailer door, and knocked gently. She silently wished that either Sweet Pea or Toni would open the door, and when it swung open, she thanked the universe for answering her wish. Toni stood in front of her, wearing sweat pants and loose white t-shirt, her pink, purple, blonde and brunette hair falling all around her. The only indication that she hadn’t just woken up was that she was wearing makeup, so she must’ve been up for at least a little while.

“Cheryl,” she said in surprise, “uh… what are you doing here?”

“I texted you, to let you know I was coming,” Cheryl stated flatly. “But you haven’t been reading my texts, have you?”

Toni sighed. “I was busy.”

“No, you weren’t,” Cheryl argued. “Sweet Pea told me that FP and a lot of the other Serpents were out of town yesterday, and that you were here pretty much all day until you went to work.”

Toni shifted uncomfortably, her eyebrows furrowing. “You were talking to Sweet Pea about me?”

Cheryl let out a breath. “I’m sorry, okay. I don’t want this conversation to start out on the wrong foot. I need to talk to you.”

“About Heather,” Toni stated, and now, Cheryl could hear the slight bitterness in her voice. Was it new, or had it always been there, and Cheryl had just never tuned in enough to notice?

“Sort of,” Cheryl answered, “more like, how I accidentally came out to my best friend in the middle of a fight, and it went terribly, and the one person I could talk to about it decided to ghost me for twenty-four hours.”

Toni’s eyes were widened now, and she opened her mouth slowly to answer, when a boy, quite a few years younger than them, appeared behind Toni. “Who’s there?” he asked. Cheryl looked at him for a second, and realized that he looked like a miniature Sweet Pea. She gave him a little smile.

“I’m Cheryl,” she said, unsure of the best way to talk to kids. She wasn’t used to being around children of any age. “I’m friends with Toni, and your brother.”

“How come I’ve never heard of you then?” he asked, raising his eyebrow in challenge. “I’ve never seen you around either.”

Toni let out a sigh, glancing back at the kid, “Noah, just—”

“What’s going on?” Sweet Pea asked, appearing behind Toni as well. “Oh! Hey, Cheryl!” He looked between her and Toni for a moment, clearly remembering his conversation with Cheryl the night before. He looked like he was trying to figure out what was going on for a moment, and when he either gave up or came to some sort of conclusion, he said, “You wanna come in? We’re having fancy breakfast today—eggs and toast.” Cheryl almost frowned at his definition of fancy breakfast, but then she remembered who she was dealing with, and she smiled instead.

“Uh, I would love to, but I don’t want to intrude,” she answered, glancing at Toni. She didn’t want to be rude, but she didn’t want to do anything Toni wasn’t comfortable with in this moment.

“No, you should come in,” Toni agreed, stepping back to let her in.

“My dad is out,” Sweet Pea told her, “Serpent business and stuff. So I figured I’d treat Noah and Toni to some of my amazing scrambled eggs. You want some?”

“I already had breakfast, so I will pass, but thank you,” Cheryl refused. Noah was still sizing her up, she realized, so she gave him another smile. “How old are you, Noah?”

“Eleven,” he answered, “how old are _you_?”

“Seventeen,” Cheryl answered, tilting her head a little.

Noah looked over at Sweet Pea, who shook his head. “Nope.”

“Seriously? But dad’s last girlfriend was like six years younger than him,” Noah said, “I don’t get what’s so wrong with it!”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, looking at Toni, who was smirking. “I think he thinks you’re hot,” Toni told her. Noah gave Toni a glare.

“Shut up, Toni!”

“Hey, that’s not any way to talk to your wing-woman, man!” Toni exclaimed.

“As handsome as you are,” Cheryl told Noah, who shifted his gaze to her skeptically, “I’m sorry Noah, but you aren’t really my type.”

“Well, what’s your type?” he demanded. Sweet Pea and Toni both smirked all of the sudden, and then Toni looked at Sweet Pea in confusion, and Cheryl realized she had even more to tell Toni than she’d realized.

“It’s complicated,” Cheryl told him.

Toni went over to the couch, folding up the sheets that had been spread over it, and then sat down. “Feel free to sit down, Cheryl,” Sweet Pea said, “we’re just going to eat in the living room.” There was a little table with some chairs in the corner of the kitchen by the hallway, but she supposed the couch was comfier.

She went over and sat down next to Toni, and Noah announced that he was going to go to the bathroom real quick, disappearing into the hallway. Cheryl glanced at Toni, who was giving her a confused look still. “What?” she asked.

“Did you tell him?” Toni asked, nodding toward Sweet Pea.

Cheryl sighed, nodding. “Yes, look, we really need to talk after breakfast, okay?”

“Okay,” Toni agreed finally. Cheryl felt a little relief come over her. “And hey, Red… I’m sorry for ghosting you yesterday. I didn’t realize that something had gone badly with you talking to Heather. Your text made it sound like something good had happened.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Cheryl apologized.

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t think _you_ owe me an apology.”

“I… guess you’re right,” Cheryl agreed. She realized that Toni didn’t know that Cheryl was now clued into Toni’s feelings for Cheryl. She wasn’t sure if Toni had explicitly voiced said feelings to Sweet Pea, or if he’d just been able to somehow tell, but either way, Toni had no idea that Cheryl suspected that they existed, and now wasn’t the time to get into it.

Noah returned to the living room, sitting on the coffee table. Toni asked him if he was ready for school to start again after break, and it triggered a long rant from the kid about school, and by the time he was wrapping it up, Sweet Pea came over with two plates of eggs and toast, one for Toni and one for Noah. He went back into the kitchen to grab his, and then came over and sat on the other side of Cheryl to eat.

Noah and Toni had immediately dug into the food, and Cheryl felt a little out of place since she wasn’t also eating. But conversation started up again after a couple of minutes, and things got a little less awkward feeling for her.

After breakfast, Toni got up to help Sweet Pea clean up, and Noah busied himself with asking Cheryl questions about herself. What kind of stuff was she into? Did she have a boyfriend? A number of other questions, and Cheryl, amused, answered all of them honestly.

Then, when Toni and Sweet Pea finished cleaning up, Toni came up to Cheryl and said, “You wanna go talk?”

Cheryl nodded, standing up, and Noah huffed. “How come you get to go hang out with her? Can I come?”

“Sorry, little man,” Toni said, shaking her head, and then Toni and Cheryl left the trailer. Toni looked to Cheryl. “Want to walk and talk? To the park?”

“Yeah, sure.” They started their walk, and once they were leaving Sunnyside, Toni finally spoke again.

“So, what happened?”

Cheryl sighed. “I went to a party Friday night, with Veronica and Heather. We played Never Have I Ever, one of the prompts was ‘never have I ever ridden on a motorcycle,’ and I drank. Heather decided that was reason enough to become immediately upset with me. I don’t know if she was mad that that implied that I was close with someone on the Southside, or if she thought that I had ridden with _Cody_ , or if she was just jealous, or what. I didn’t get a chance to ask her, she told us that she had a hook up, and she left.”

“Oh god, the more I hear about her the more ridiculous she sounds.”

“I know,” Cheryl agreed, getting a look of surprise from the Serpent, “anyway. So, yesterday I woke up totally hungover, threw up, and then after I recovered and went downstairs to get breakfast, _Heather_ was there, wearing _Jason’s_ pajamas.”

“Oh _shit_ ,” Toni said in surprise. “Seriously? Isn’t that like the one thing you asked her not to do? Hookup with your brother?”

Cheryl nodded. “Yes, literally the one thing I ever genuinely asked her to do for me. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that she was still mad about me lying to her a couple of times before. Anyway, I got crazy mad at her, and dragged her up to my room and we were yelling at each other… she said a whole lot of horrible things to me. That I’m weak and that I’m desperate for her because I have no strength on my own… she told me that I had no good reason for ever asking her to not date Jason, and I told her that I actually did, and she asked what it was and…”

“And you told her that you like her,” Toni finished solemnly.

Cheryl was about to agree, but then she realized Toni’s wording, and she corrected her, “I told her that I _liked_ her.” Toni tilted her head, clearly confused. “I don’t like her anymore. How could I? You’ve been right all along, she’s always been lowkey manipulative, and lately, it's gotten so much worse, because I've been having my own life separate from her. And after all those things she said to me, if I hadn’t already stopped liking her, I definitely have now.”

“Oh,” Toni said simply.

Cheryl continued, “After I said it, I almost had a panic attack. She asked if I was gay, I couldn’t even answer her. She said it was no wonder, and that I could’ve told her—it wasn’t anything special. She said no matter when I told her, she would’ve told me that it was never going to happen between us. And I told her I wouldn’t even want it anymore, but she doesn’t believe it. She thinks I’ll always keep coming back to her, but… Toni, I can’t imagine things between me and her ever going back to the way they used to be. I don’t look at her the same way I used to.”

Toni nodded. “That’s understandable. When someone does a lot of horrible shit to you, it’s hard to see them the same way.”

“I used to look at her and think about how pretty I thought she was, how flawless and caring,” Cheryl recalled, “but it was all a fantasy. She’s always been this heartless bitch.”

“I don’t know about always,” Toni, surprisingly, vouched for Heather. “I’m sure when you guys were kids, she was genuinely interested in being your friend. And maybe she was, sort of, up until the end. But the problem was her expectations of you as a friend, versus was she was willing to offer. Friendships should be equal, and it does not sound like your friendship with her was equal at all.”

“No,” Cheryl agreed. “I’ve always felt invisible when I’m around people and Heather. She takes everyone’s attention away. I used to think I didn’t mind it, because my attention was on Heather too, but how could I not mind it? I’ve _never_ disliked attention.”

Toni chuckled. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? I bet you were a major attention seeker when you were a kid.”

“You’d win that bet,” Cheryl confirmed, smiling a little. They were at the park now, and Toni led Cheryl over to the swing set—the only part of the playground that looked like it had maybe been rebuilt after the original opening of the park. It didn’t crumble when they sat on the swings, like everything else looked like it would under the slightest bit of pressure.

“Hey, again… I’m sorry that I didn’t text you back yesterday,” Toni apologized, “and that I ignored your messages. I thought the conversation was going to be way different, and I just… figured you’d be fine without talking to me.”

Cheryl wanted to try to coax the real truth out of her, but with everything that had happened the past couple of days, she wasn’t sure that she was ready to get into it, so she just smiled and nodded. “I get it, it’s okay. You’re forgiven. I just… had a terrible day yesterday, and I was really upset. It’s honestly maybe better that we talked today instead of yesterday.”

“But you talked to Sweet Pea, right?”

Cheryl nodded. “I owed him Pop’s, and I needed dinner, so we went out. And… yeah, I asked him what you’d been doing that day. I didn’t believe what you said about the Serpents. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but… it was pretty obvious to me that you were lying, and I was hurt.”

“I get it.”

“And I swore him to secrecy and told him that I’m gay, and about Heather,” Cheryl told her. “Honestly… it felt kind of good to tell someone for real. The way I wanted to.”

“Are you referring to yesterday with Heather, or are you lowkey roasting me for figuring out that you were gay without you telling me?” Toni asked.

“I was referring to yesterday,” Cheryl answered, rolling her eyes.

Toni smiled. “Okay, good.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, relaxing on the swings of the swing set. Cheryl’s mind began to wander, and she looked over at Toni, and it wasn’t until the Serpent girl looked back at her that she finally spoke, “So… when do you want to take those pictures? For your class.”

Toni hummed softly. “Probably we should do it sooner rather than later. Would you be free sometime this week to do it?”

“Yeah, I’m sure I won’t have anything to do after Vixens practice any day this week,” Cheryl answered.

“Okay, well I’ll text you sometime this week and we can do it,” Toni told her. Cheryl nodded, and then silence settled over them for another couple of minutes. “So… any idea what’s gonna happen with you and Heather? Are you guys like… straight up not going to be friends?” Cheryl let out a sigh. “Sorry to bring it back to that topic. We don’t have to keep talking about it, I’m just… I know that she’s your best friend. Crushes aside, it’s gonna suck not having her to hang out with.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to try and talk to her today, probably I’ll try and call her. I’m not really expecting it to change anything. I just want to know that she’s not planning on…” Cheryl trailed off, taking a shaky breath.

“Outing you,” Toni finished for her, and Cheryl nodded in response.

“I don’t want to stay in the closet forever,” Cheryl told Toni confidently, “but I don’t want to have to come out to everyone like that. She’s mad at me. If she decides to tell everyone that I’m gay, it won’t come out nicely.”

“If she does, I’m sure I can get some of the Serpents to… _scare_ her in revenge,” Toni said seriously, but Cheryl could tell she was joking by the softness of her eyes.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cheryl responded with a chuckle. After another moment of silence, she continued, “I should let you get back to your Sunday morning. I know that you have to work later.”

“Yeah,” Toni confirmed, nodding. “Okay.” They stood up and started the walk back to Sunnyside. As they reached where Cheryl’s car was parked, Toni said, “I hope it goes well, talking to Heather. I’m really sorry you had such a terrible day yesterday.”

“Thanks.”

“And feel free to text me if you need anything,” Toni told her. “I might not be able to answer you while I’m at work, but I will as soon as I can.”

“Okay. Thank you, Toni.”

And with that, Cheryl headed back to Thornhill, feeling immensely better than she had on her way over to Sunnyside.

* * *

Cheryl was feeling a little less confident about talking to Heather as she sat on her bed and stared at her phone. She’d come home, had lunch, and now all that was left for her to do was call her best friend, or perhaps her ex best friend now, and talk. She kept thinking about the previous morning, when she’d nearly had a panic attack, and she was so stressed that it would happen again.

Biting the inside of her lip, Cheryl gathered up what courage she had and hit call next to Heather’s contact. She put it on speaker and let it ring, taking in a deep breath as it did.

Just when she was thinking it was going to go to voicemail—something that she wasn’t sure if she wanted or not—the phone call was answered.

“What do you want, Cheryl?” Heather snapped as soon as she picked up.

“Don’t worry,” Cheryl snapped right back, “I’m not calling to beg for your forgiveness, although actually, I’m sure that is what you want.”

“I’m already regretting picking up this call,” Heather said, “do you have something to say or not?”

Cheryl heard herself sigh. “Look. I understand that you’re mad at me, and I’m not trying to say anything about that. But I need you to do one thing for me. You _can’t_ tell anyone that I’m gay.”

Heather huffed on the other side of the call. “How long are you going to keep this secret up, Cheryl?”

“That’s really none of your business,” Cheryl snapped, “but when I come out, it has to come from me, not you. Got it?”

“I can’t believe you think that I would do that to you,” Heather said, her voice sad suddenly.

“Well, I can’t be sure about anything anymore,” Cheryl snapped, not letting herself fall for the sadness in Heather’s voice. “Nothing about what happened yesterday gave me any sort of reassurance that you wouldn’t out me to all of Riverdale High tomorrow. So I wanted to call you and make sure that we’re clear. When I come out, it will be on _my_ terms.”

“Yeah, okay, Cheryl. Good luck.” The line went dead, and Cheryl let out a shaky breath. Whether or not Heather was going to listen to Cheryl, she felt good about how she stood up for herself. She was great at standing up for herself to most people, but to Heather, it was new. And it felt good.

**Cheryl – Talked to Heather. Not sure it went super well, but she says she wouldn’t out me to everyone. Either way, it feels good to have called her and stood up for myself for once to her.**

**Toni – That’s good, I’m proud of you, Red!**

**Cheryl – Thanks. Are you going to work soon?**

**Toni – Yeah, unfortunately. Going to be working pretty late tonight, which sucks since school comes back tomorrow. But hey, gotta be working for that rent now.**

**Cheryl – Yeah. I hope your shift isn’t too bad.**

**Toni – Thanks! Alright, I’m leaving, I’ll text you later.**

**Cheryl – Okay, talk later!**

Cheryl put her phone down and smiled to herself. The weekend may have started off terribly, but she’d stood up for herself, and she was finally believing that she did _not_ _need_ Heather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Note on Sweet Pea's brother: I realize that a lot of people in Fanfic make Sweet Pea's real name Noah, or at least I've seen that a few times. Based on my brief research, though, his name has never been confirmed. Anyway, I hadn't thought about that at all until like, finishing this story, and then I thought about changing the name of Sweet Pea's brother, but in my head he is just Noah now, so I decided to leave it lol. Sorry if that's confusing.  
> I hope the conversation between Toni and Cheryl was satisfactory! Cheryl's been through a lot the past couple of days, but rest assured, she is not going to forget what Sweet Pea told her about Toni having feelings for her. :)  
> My weekend took a turn today, unfortunately my girlfriend woke up with a fever and we spent a couple hours waiting to get seen at a minute clinic, looks like she probably has the flu :( positive vibes are appreciated <3 Thankfully, this is the last week of class before Spring Break for me, so even if I still have a lot to do, at least I'm close to some sort of a break.  
> Anyway! Thank you all so much for reading this update! I appreciate you all so much! See you on Thursday! :D x


	13. i know i can be dramatic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni takes photos of Cheryl for her school project, and then they go to grab dinner, running into some Northsiders while they are out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning friends! Life has been crazy this week, I've been so busy with school, plus all of this stuff with COVID-19 is so stressful. I hope all of you are able to stay healthy <3 3 UT System schools have extended spring break and also are moving classes online until the end of March. My school has yet to make a statement since then, so we're all waiting on the edge of our seats to hear if we should expect to be asked to stay away for longer than a week. I'm driving out on Saturday, so hoping to hear by then. Ugh, crazy stuff.  
> All of that aside, here is the next chapter of What A Time for your enjoyment <3

Cheryl touched up her red lipstick in front of the tiny mirror hanging over the small sink. She was standing in Sweet Pea’s bathroom, but Sweet Pea, his brother, and his dad were all out. It was just Toni and Cheryl there. It was Wednesday evening, and Cheryl had just arrived to Sunnyside from Vixens practice. She’d brought over an additional outfit, the outfit that she and Toni had been texting about for the photoshoot they were about to do.

Thankfully, the weather was pretty nice in Riverdale by now, so they’d decided that Cheryl would wear high waisted black shorts and a red sweater tucked into them, her spider brooch pinned to it on her right side. And she was wearing red heels to top off the outfit.

She emerged from the bathroom fully changed, her makeup and hair touched up, and walked back into the living room, where Toni was messing with a camera that she’d checked out from Southside High. “How do I look?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow as Toni looked up from the camera, her eyes widening slightly.

“You look great,” she answered, and Cheryl was very aware of how Toni checked her out for a moment.

Since this weekend, Cheryl had perhaps been thinking of ways to draw out the fact that Toni liked her. It was hard to determine one way or another from texting sometimes, and this was the first time she’d seen Toni since Sunday, but even now, ten minutes after arriving, she felt like she was doing exactly what she wanted.

She wasn’t sure of the best way to bring up what Sweet Pea had told her on Saturday, or if she should even bring it up. But she also didn’t know how to navigate this sort of thing. Although she had had sex before, that didn’t mean that she’d dealt with feelings or any sort of relationship. Of course, there had been her feelings for Heather, but she had never attempted to make sense of them or to follow them. No, Toni had been her path to dealing with those feelings, and they were now basically gone. In their place were new feelings, different than Cheryl had ever felt, directed at Toni.

“Is the camera ready?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni nodded. “Yeah, it should be fine. Really wish I had something better than this, but it’ll have to do.”

They left the trailer and started toward the park—the place that Toni had decided would be best for the pictures. It wasn’t usually populated, and the trees and plants were nice and green as spring arrived in full swing. Cheryl was starting to like the park, too. Like many places on the Southside that had surprised her, it was peaceful.

“So… what are these pictures supposed to be like?” Cheryl asked as they walked.

Toni shrugged. “It’s supposed to be a portrait, so it doesn’t have to tick many boxes. Any picture of you would be fine.”

“But?” Cheryl prompted. Toni gave her a funny look.

“What makes you think there’s a ‘but?’”

“You love photography. There’s no way you’re going to be happy just snapping a picture of me. If you were, you wouldn’t have cared to help me decide what to wear,” Cheryl insisted. “You must have the whole composition blocked out already.”

Toni smiled a little, and Cheryl was almost sure that she caught a blush on the Serpent’s cheeks. “Okay, maybe you’re right.”

And Cheryl was definitely right, because as soon as they got to the park, they were at the bench, Toni positioning Cheryl as she sat on it. Every time she grabbed Cheryl’s hand to move it, or gently nudged her exposed leg to change where it rested, Cheryl felt her heart skip a beat. Then, Toni carefully messed with Cheryl’s hair, so close to her face, and Cheryl couldn’t breathe.

Then the smaller girl suddenly took a few steps back, and Cheryl let out a shaky breath. “Should I smile?” Cheryl asked.

“No,” Toni instructed, crouching down as she pulled the camera up to her face, one eye closed as she peered through it. She snapped a few pictures, and then peeked up above the camera. “Just, tilt your head back a little bit.” Cheryl followed the instruction, and Toni snapped a few more pictures.

They went around the park doing this for about twenty minutes. Cheryl leaned against two different trees, sat on the swing looking out into the distance, and even braved the creaking and almost falling apart playground. And although all the pictures looked great to Cheryl when Toni was showing her when they were done, the Serpent was not satisfied.

“They look great, because you look great,” Toni said, but she sounded disappointed.

“I’m not following.”

Toni shook her head. “Sorry, that came out wrong. That’s the _only_ reason they look great. This camera literally can hardly even do the bare minimum. I can’t do any better, all I can do to adjust the shot is the change the zoom and the focus. I swear, this camera is literally twenty years old.”

Cheryl pursed her lips, thinking hard for a few moments about her brother. He’d taken a photography class during freshman year—a blowoff class, he’d claimed—but, of course, he had gotten no less than the best camera available at that time. She was almost sure he still had it. “I have an idea,” Cheryl said out loud, going over to the bench where she’d left her little purse and her phone.

Retrieving the latter, she shot her brother a quick text.

**Cheryl – You still have that camera from your old photography class?**

Thankfully, her twin was usually very prompt when it came to responding to text messages.

**Jason – Uh yeah, why?**

**Cheryl – I need to borrow it. Is it in your room?**

**Jason – Yeah, it should be on one of my shelves.**

**Cheryl – Are you home? Do you know if either of the parents is home?**

**Jason – I’m out, I have no idea about them. What are you up to, Cher?**

**Cheryl – Nothing. Thanks for letting me borrow it. I’ll get it back to you when I can, in a few days at most.**

**Jason – No rush, I don’t use that thing.**

**Jason – Don’t use it to get me in trouble. You sneaking around is creepy.**

Cheryl mentally rolled her eyes at her brother, but then pocketed her phone and looked at Toni proudly. “What just happened?” Toni asked.

“I just got you access to a camera much better suited for your skill level,” Cheryl told the girl. “Come on.” She started walking back toward Sunnyside.

“Wait, what?” Toni asked. “Where are we going?”

“We are going to Thornhill,” Cheryl answered, glancing over her shoulder.

“Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Toni asked hesitantly.

Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “Are you scared, Toni? I thought you were a Serpent.” Toni stood up a little straighter.

“I’m not scared. Just, aren’t _you_? Your parents like… _hate_ people from the Southside.”

Cheryl shrugged. “Don’t worry. I can handle my parents. Let’s go get that camera.”

Toni started walking with Cheryl, but she still didn’t look convinced about the change of plans. “Who’s camera is it?”

“It’s Jason’s. Don’t worry, he’s letting us borrow it. He hasn’t used it since he took a photography class freshman year as a blowoff class,” Cheryl explained.

“So we’re going to go grab this camera and then come all the way back here?” Toni asked. “It’s really okay, I can use these pictures, Cheryl.”

“If you don’t want to come all the way back to take them, we can do it at Thornhill,” Cheryl offered. “I’m certain that you’ll be able to find somewhere good enough. It’s a very expansive estate.” Toni still looked visibly hesitant, so Cheryl stopped and faced the smaller girl directly. “Trust me, Toni. It’ll be fine. We can’t avoid you coming to Thornhill forever anyway.”

Toni took a breath, and then nodded. “Fine, okay.”

They made it back to Sunnyside and Cheryl headed for her car. “Do you mind if I drive? I don’t mind driving you back when we’re done.”

“Sure,” Toni agreed, and Cheryl was a little surprised at how few words Toni seemed to have right now. The pink and purple haired girl got into the passenger side of the car as Cheryl got in the driver’s side, and off to Thornhill they went.

When they arrived, Cheryl was relieved to see that no one seemed to be home—no cars were there. “No one should be here,” she told Toni confidently. “Come on.”

When they walked into Thornhill, she saw Toni’s eyes immediately wandering, gaping at everything inside. “This is… ridiculously decorated. Seriously. It’s like your family literally came out of a story about creepy dukes and duchesses in like the sixteenth century.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if my mother and father did step out of a time machine from exactly then,” Cheryl told Toni. “The camera should be in Jason’s room.” She led Toni upstairs and through the twisting hallways to Jason’s room.

“How do you not get lost in here?” Toni demanded.

“I used to when I was a kid,” Cheryl admitted. “There are still rooms that I forget about, but when I was about eleven, I decided that I wanted to know everything that was in here. So I went through every room and explored every nook and cranny. It was a big mistake, I found so many creepy heirlooms and photographs. It was horrifying.”

“Damn, and when you mentioned the spider brooch I thought _that_ was weird,” Toni muttered as they reached Jason’s room. Cheryl pushed inside and looked around the room. She hadn’t actually seen it in a while, and Jason had changed it quite a bit to reflect his older self. Cheryl’s, in the meantime, had remained red and bold since she was a child.

There, sitting on one of the shelves on the walls, was a practically new looking, professional camera. She proudly went and grabbed it, returning to Toni and handing it over to her. “Will this do?”

Toni turned on the camera and began inspecting what it could do, and a grin spread across his face. “This is awesome,” she said, inserting a memory card into the device. “Okay, let’s go back outside. We’ve gotta be fast and get these pictures before the sun sets anymore.”

They ended up over by the barn, which was empty aside from the stacks and stacks of barrels holding maple syrup. There were countless empty barrels outside of it, and Toni instructed Cheryl to sit on one of them. She posed her as she had before, and then began snapping pictures. They then moved closer to the woods, took some more pictures by trees, and then they returned closer to the house, using the old brick and wood mansion as the background to Cheryl’s portrait.

And when Toni deemed them finished, and showed Cheryl the pictures, the redhead was honestly shocked at the difference between the new photos and the previous ones. With this camera, Toni was able to make her stand out despite whatever was happening in the background of the photo. Everything looked more vibrant. It went from a nice photo to _art_.

“Those are beautiful,” Cheryl told Toni. “You really are very talented, Toni.”

Toni smiled at her. “Thank you. Is there somewhere we can go while I look through all of them?” That’s how they ended up going up to Cheryl’s bedroom, and as they entered it, Toni once again looked around in awe. “Your room is literally the size of my uncle’s trailer.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed quietly.

“Also, I pictured your bedroom being red, but not _this_ red,” Toni teased.

“You pictured my bedroom?” Cheryl asked, trying not to smirk as she looked at Toni.

Toni rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Feel free to sit on the little couch over there, or my bed,” Cheryl offered, but she herself approached her bed and sat there. Toni just followed her lead, sitting next to Cheryl and beginning to flip through photos.

“These are so good,” Toni said proudly. “Man, this camera is awesome. Tell your brother thank you for letting me use it.” Cheryl nodded that she would, even though she wouldn't. “And this outfit was a good choice too. Seriously, look.” She showed Cheryl a picture of her on the barrel, her legs spread slightly in a way, her chin up, and one arm touching the barn next to her. “It’s very… ‘I’m not afraid to take up space,’ do you get that vibe too?”

“Yeah, I’d agreed with that,” Cheryl said with a nod.

“Maybe that’s what I’ll title it,” Toni decided. “Yeah, I think this is the one. ‘Not Afraid To Take Up Space.’ Is that too long though?”

Cheryl hummed. “What about just ‘Take Up Space?’”

“I like that,” Toni agreed, nodding. “Awesome.”

“So do you need to take the camera back with you?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni shook her head, turning off the device and retrieving her memory card from it. “That’s what this is for. And that way, Jason won’t miss the camera at all.”

“Trust me, he wouldn’t have,” Cheryl told her with a chuckle. Toni just shrugged. Silence fell over the two of them for a moment, and then when Toni met Cheryl’s eyes and began to speak, Cheryl knew what the topic would be before she heard anything.

“So… how has this week been so far? You’ve pretty much been avoiding talking about it over text. But I know it can’t be easy.”

Cheryl sighed, lowering her gaze to her lap. “You’re right, it hasn’t been easy. Heather hasn’t told anyone about me, at least not that I’m aware of. And she’s… sort of been MIA from her usual routine. Which is good. She comes to Vixens practice, but she avoids eye contact with me, save for a few glares every now and then. Other than that, I haven’t seen her around much. She’s started having lunch with other people, leaving just me and Veronica and Veronica’s friends. Usually, Heather and I would sit at the same table as Veronica and her friends, but mostly stay separate. Now, I’m being forced to listen to Betty Cooper and Jughead flirt with each other.”

Toni chuckled at that. “Well, I can vouch for Jughead at least. He’s a good dude.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl said, shrugging. “But anyway. It’s mostly been fine. Just…”

“What?”

“Kind of lonely,” Cheryl admitted. “People will say I’m the most popular at Riverdale High, but the truth is, people don’t like me. I have one friend left at Riverdale High.”

Toni gave her a small smile. “Well, you’ve got some friends down south now, okay?”

Cheryl smiled gratefully. “Yeah, I know.”

“I guess maybe I should head out now,” Toni said suddenly, standing. “I don’t want you to have to deal with your parents getting home and explaining who I am and why I’m here.”

“Wait,” Cheryl said quickly, “you wanna get food before you go home?”

Cheryl drove them to Pop’s, and they sat in one of the corner booths enjoying burgers, fries, and milkshakes. They talked about Toni’s art projects, and how they were always too boring and not what Toni wanted to do. Cheryl listened, fully intrigued, as Toni described how she wanted to be a filmmaker. She wanted to make short films and learn all the ways a camera could be used to make people feel things. Cheryl was honestly in awe of how big Toni’s dreams were. Toni, who came from next to nothing, whose only family was a _gang_ , and who worked as a bartender at the age of seventeen, dreamed so big, and Cheryl, who had been born into wealth and, to some extent, power, wasn’t even sure of what she wanted to do in college.

“Sorry,” Toni said after a while, when their food was almost finished, “I didn’t realize I’d been rambling on for so long.”

“Don’t apologize,” Cheryl insisted. “I like listening to you talk about photography and film and all of that.”

A small smile appeared on Toni’s face, and her eyes seemed to light up. Cheryl felt her heart flutter.

Before either of them could say anything else, the door to Pop’s swung open, and Veronica walked in, with Betty, Jughead, and Archie in tow. Cheryl noticed them immediately, and Toni looked confused, glancing over her shoulder to see the entrance. Veronica turned her head and made eye contact with Cheryl, immediately smiling and coming over. “Hey, Cheryl!” she greeted. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Jughead and Betty looked to Toni. “Hey, Toni,” Jughead said, and she gave him a nod. Cheryl was sure that Toni felt the same sense of panic she was feeling. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Toni said, now with the whole groups eyes on her, “uh, Red helped me out with a project for school, so I owed her dinner.”

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Veronica said, extending her hand to Toni. “Veronica Lodge.”

“Toni Topaz,” Toni said back, taking her hand and shaking it with a surprising amount of confidence. “Um, you guys are welcome to join us.”

Cheryl’s eyes widened, but Toni wasn’t looking at her. “We’d love to,” Betty said with a smile, “thanks.”

The booth suddenly became a lot tighter as they somehow managed to fit all six of them in it. Veronica must’ve noticed Toni’s Serpent jacket by now, because she said, “Do you go to Southside High, Toni?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered.

“She’s one of the few people there who are way too good for it, though,” Jughead insisted. “You should see this girl with a camera. And Southside High doesn’t even have a photography class.”

“Oh, you like photography?” Veronica asked curiously, and whatever followed, Cheryl’s mind was instantly blocking out. She didn’t know why she felt jealous all of the sudden, hearing Jughead talk about Toni’s photography. She knew that they were friends, but she’d never really seen them hang out anywhere except for the parties. But she _also_ knew that, once upon a time, they had almost hooked up.

Cheryl clenched her fists underneath the table, trying to keep herself from glaring directly at Jughead.

“So, how do you two know each other?” Veronica asked, suddenly looking at Cheryl.

Since it had been quite a while now since she and Toni had first met, it was actually pretty easy to stretch the truth. “Heather dragged me out to a Southside party once, and my car broke down when I was about to leave, and Toni and her friend fixed it for me.”

Pop came over to take the group’s order, and Cheryl ordered herself another milkshake, knowing that she needed something to occupy herself to get through this conversation. She suddenly wished she had alcohol.

When Pop went off to get their food ready, Jughead glanced at Cheryl. “Yeah, I heard you two have been hanging out a lot.”

“I wouldn’t really say a lot,” Toni said for Cheryl, “every now and then. We’re friends now.”

Cheryl felt a pit form in her stomach—this was the first time that the word _friends_ had ever made her feel this way. Not even during her whole time crushing on Heather had she ever felt so frustrated at hearing that word. What was wrong with her?

“Well, hey,” Veronica said with a grin, “Reggie Mantle is throwing a party on Friday, if you wanna come with?”

“Oh, I have to work, so I won’t be able to make it,” Toni said apologetically.

Veronica nodded in understanding and then look at Cheryl. “You’re going to be there, right Cheryl?”

Cheryl cleared her throat. “Oh. I don’t know.”

“Oh, but,” Veronica continued, “Heather is going to be there. So I get it if you don’t want to come.”

“What’s up with you and Heather, anyway?” Betty asked.

“Yeah,” Archie agreed, “you two used to always have lunch together, and now she’s been missing from our table.”

“We had a fight,” Cheryl answered.

Betty furrowed her eyebrows. “Haven’t you two known each other since, like, birth? How did one fight turn into you guys literally not speaking. And, for the record, Vixens practice has been so awkward and tense since we all realized that you two aren’t talking anymore.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Cheryl admitted. “It’s really just between me and Heather. And honestly, I’m considering the fight over.”

“So what, you two are just like, not friends anymore?” Veronica asked.

Cheryl nodded. “Pretty much.”

Pop appeared again with milkshakes and burgers in tow, and Cheryl had never been so grateful for fast service in her life. Everyone began to dig in, and Cheryl occupied herself with drinking her milkshake. Conversation continued at the table, but Cheryl kept herself an outsider to it.

When she was finishing up her milkshake, she suddenly felt a shoe tap the tip of her heel, and she looked up at Toni. The Serpent glanced out the window, nodded her head a little and giving Cheryl a questioning look. Cheryl understood what she was asking, and she cleared her throat. “Well, I think Toni and I should probably go. I’m her ride, and it’s getting late.”

“Oh okay,” Veronica said, “well thanks for letting us join you.”

Everyone got up to let Toni and Cheryl out of the booth, and then as they sat back down, Cheryl pulled out some cash, setting it on the table. “This should cover everything.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Jughead said, looking up at her in surprise.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cheryl insisted, and then she and Toni left the diner.

Toni looked at her curiously as they walked toward the red Chevy. “That was nice of you.”

“Yeah, well. Veronica is my only friend left at Riverdale High, so I should be keeping myself in her good graces,” Cheryl said slightly sarcastically.

“You really don’t consider any of the others your friends?”

Cheryl shook her head.

“Well. I think they maybe consider you their friend,” Toni told her, going around to get into the passenger seat.

“How could you possibly know that?” Cheryl asked, climbing into the driver’s side.

“They came over to us and joined us, and asked you about what they noticed has been different about you…”

“They joined us because you invited them to, and Jughead and _you_ are friends,” Cheryl said, realizing that the last part of that came out a bit harsher than she meant it to.

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Sorry, I’m just on edge. That whole interaction was just… stressful.”

“Why?” Toni demanded. “You didn’t want them to join us? Half of them already knew that you and I knew each other. Archie seems harmless, and if Veronica is your _friend_ , what’s the harm in her knowing?”

Cheryl sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She put the car in drive and started toward Sunnyside. It was almost ten minutes of slightly tense silence before Toni spoke again.

“Seriously, Cheryl, what’s up?” Toni asked. Cheryl said nothing. “Okay, I’m sorry for inviting them to join us. It was my bad, I didn’t realize you’d be so mad.” Cheryl gave Toni a sideways glance, and she seemed to be speaking genuinely. Not that Cheryl had _truly_ doubted that.

“I’m just worried that Veronica might tell Heather.”

“And…?”

“ _And_ ,” Cheryl continued in frustration, “Heather knows that I’m gay.”

Toni was silent for a moment, as Cheryl drove up to Sunnyside, and then she let out a breath. “Oh. You don’t want her to think that _we’re_ dating.” Hearing Toni say that out loud instantly caused Cheryl’s heartrate to jump up.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, stopping her car in front of the entrance to Sunnyside.

“Got it.” Toni’s tone was short. Cheryl furrowed her eyes, confused about Toni’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Hey, what—”

“I should go,” Toni said plainly, opening the car door. “I’ll send you the pictures when I’ve finished retouching them.”

“Wait, Toni—”

But the door had been shut already, and Toni was headed into the trailer park. Cheryl thought back through the conversation. Of course she didn’t want Heather to think that Toni and Cheryl were dating, because that would likely increase the chances of Heather deciding to out Cheryl—because it would mean that Cheryl was dating a _Serpent_ from the _Southside_. Heather would find that infinitely worse than being _gay_.

Didn’t Toni understand that? Why had she suddenly gotten so annoyed?

Cheryl let out an exasperated breath as she started her drive back to Thornhill. She would need to figure this out, but if Toni was mad for some reason, she needed her space. So it would have to be dealt with another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I know. You're thinking something along the lines of "Tori, what the fuck, they were so close to getting somewhere, why would you do this?" and the answer is that Toni clearly has a predefined notion or idea of what Cheryl thinks/feels about her. This is something they have to straighten out before anything can happen. I promise, this little hiccup will not last long at all <3  
> There will be no extra updates this weekend, because tomorrow I need to do lots of schoolwork, and in evening is my girlfriend's birthday party, and Saturday I'm road tripping for spring break, so Sunday will be the next update as usual. I promise, you will enjoy the next update <3  
> I appreciate all of your comments and kudos, and I really appreciate all of you for even being here reading this story. I know I say it every update, but it's really true. I know how much commitment it can take to come back to a WIP fanfic, so I just wanna say THANK YOU for choosing to stick with this one <3 Have a lovely weekend, please stay safe and healthy friends!


	14. just let me adore you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is done with miscommunication.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends!! I am officially on spring break - which is now going to be 2 weeks long. I still have lots of school stuff to work on during the break, but I was productive today as well as giving myself chill time so I'm happy. My girlfriend and I are at her parent's house for this week, and next week we'll be at my parent's house. Things are super crazy everywhere here.  
> While the whole world is seemingly going through the apocalypse, I hope that this chapter will at least distract you guys a little bit. I think you will like this one :)  
> Enjoy!!

Unlike the last time that Toni had gotten mad at Cheryl, she was not ignoring her.

It was now Friday, and they’d been texting almost like normal. Well, Cheryl was texting pretty normally. She’d texted Toni as soon as she got home on Friday, and Toni had replied that she was going to work on the pictures and then hit the sack, so they hadn’t talked the rest of the night. But the previous day, Cheryl had texted her in the morning as she would normally, and Toni had replied. But her replies were shorter, and Cheryl was getting frustrated. She didn’t want to ask for an explanation over text, and she definitely didn’t want to provide any sort of defense over text if she didn’t even know why Toni was mad.

Despite not being entirely ignored, Cheryl could still tell that Toni wasn’t happy. Cheryl would ask her a question or tell her a story, and receive just a few words in response. Cheryl recognized this style of frustration, it was very… _Cheryl_ , if she was honest. She’d texted Heather like that the few times she’d been frustrated at her in the past, whereas Heather was more of an ignorer.

But despite Cheryl’s frustration at Toni’s avoidance, she was mostly starting to feel desperate to understand what was going on.

After Vixens practice on Friday, Toni wasn’t answering any texts, but Cheryl knew that she was probably working. She found herself texting a different Serpent to verify this.

**Cheryl – Hey, is Toni working tonight?**

**Sweet Pea – Yep! Is everything good with you guys by the way? She’s seeming like, very snappy today. And yesterday too.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, I’m wondering the same thing.**

**Sweet Pea – Did something happen?**

**Cheryl – I don’t know? I’m going to go talk to her after her shift. Do you know when it ends?**

**Sweet Pea – I think ten. Good luck!**

**Cheryl – Thanks lol.**

So that night found Cheryl pulling up to the White Wyrm right at ten, and sure enough, she spotted Toni’s motorcycle parked out front. Taking in a deep breath, she got out of her car and walked into the Wyrm, trying to feel confident. She went up to the bar, but didn’t see Toni anywhere. Instead, she saw some other woman working the bar. “Excuse me, is Toni here?” she asked.

The lady looked at her in annoyance. “No, she left ‘bout half an hour ago.”

Cheryl frowned in confusion. “Her motorcycle is here.” The woman just shrugged. Sighing, Cheryl turned and left the bar, glancing around the parking lot. Toni’s bike was definitely still there, but Toni was nowhere to be found.

It didn’t take Cheryl long to realize where Toni must be.

She wrapped around the White Wyrm to the back alley, finding the usual pile of junk and noticing that the hole was slightly exposed, confirming her theory. Taking a breath, Cheryl ducked through the gap.

Toni let out a gasp as she entered. “Jesus, Cheryl! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Sorry,” Cheryl apologized quickly, straightening up. Toni was sitting on a crate, a joint in one hand and a beer in the other. And empty beer bottle sat next to the crate as well. “Rough day?”

“You could say that.” Cheryl pursed her lips together for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about Wednesday. Clearly, you were mad at me for something.”

“I’m not,” Toni lied, “I was just tired. It had been a long day.”

“Toni, I’m the _queen_ of lying. You can’t lie to me.”

Toni narrowed her eyes. “Watch me.”

Shaking her head, Cheryl spoke, “You got mad because I said that I don’t want Heather to think that you and I are dating.” It wasn’t a question. It was obvious.

“Yeah,” Toni answered.

“It wasn’t anything personal, Toni,” Cheryl assured her. “If Heather thought that I was dating _anyone_ from the Southside, especially a _Serpent_ , it wouldn’t matter if I was gay or straight. She wouldn’t keep that secret. Especially not since she’s mad at me already.”

“I get it,” Toni snapped, “Serpents and Southsiders are terrible and they can’t date Northsiders. I’ve heard your spiel on this multiple times, alright? I don’t need to hear it again.”

Cheryl frowned. Yes, she’d said that she didn’t see how people from either side could date each other, but that had been before she realized how drawn she was to Toni—beyond a want for friendship. That was before she got _jealous_ of _Jughead Jones_ , and before she’d sat behind Toni on a motorcycle, so close to her that she could smell her shampoo. “I don’t believe that anymore,” Cheryl heard herself say.

Toni looked at her with disbelief in her eyes. “Sure, Cheryl. Whatever you say.”

“I’m being serious,” Cheryl snapped. “And you’re not understanding me. The reason that I don’t want Heather to think that we’re dating is because I don’t want her to out me. I want to come out myself. That’s _it_ , there’s no other reason.”

“Great, cool, good for you,” Toni exclaimed, taking back the last of her beer. Toni was clearly too annoyed or drunk to understand what Cheryl was really trying to say.

“Were you drinking before you came here?” Cheryl demanded.

“Maybe,” Toni answered, shrugging as she tossed her empty beer bottle to the ground. Cheryl flinched slightly, but the bottle didn’t break. Toni took another hit from her joint, and Cheryl sighed.

“I think there’s some miscommunication happening here,” Cheryl said carefully to Toni. “You say you weren’t mad on Wednesday, but clearly, you were and you still are. You’re not accepting my answer regarding what was said. I need you to work with me here.” Cheryl was surprising herself with her level of patience for Toni in this moment.

Toni let out a sigh. “Okay, yeah, I’m kind of mad. You said you didn’t want Heather to think that we’re dating. I took that to mean that you’d be ashamed of it, because I’m a Serpent, and I took offense.”

“I never said I would be ashamed of it, Toni,” Cheryl said quietly, taking a step closer to where Toni was sitting. “I wouldn’t be. I just don’t want to have my public coming out to happen because Heather was being judgmental about who I’m supposedly dating.” In case it wasn’t clear from that, Cheryl took a breath and added, “I would not be ashamed of dating you.”

Toni blinked, looking pretty surprised at those words. “Oh… okay. Well… that’s good, I guess. I guess I got the wrong impression. Because while we were at Pop’s… it seemed like you didn’t even want the group to think that we were friends.”

“It’s not that,” Cheryl insisted. “I was surprised that you invited them to sit with us, and I didn’t really mind explaining how we met.”

“But it was a lie,” Toni argued.

“Barely,” Cheryl said back, “I just took out the part where we’d met previously because you caught me staring at my best friend who, at the time, I’d had a crush on!”

“Or you didn’t want them to know that you’d been to the White Wyrm, because it’s a Serpent hangout.”

Cheryl’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “Why do you keep putting words in my mouth? I never said that I didn’t want them to know that! I’m not ashamed of knowing you Toni, or spending time on the Southside!”

“Alright, fine, I believe you,” Toni gave in. “Look, that was, honestly, the reason I was mad—that you said that. But it was also because of how you were all through that dinner. You didn’t want to be there. You were so quiet. And I know that when you’re comfortable, you aren’t quiet. I know I shouldn’t have invited them to sit with us. But I really didn’t expect you to get upset about it, and I was upset that that was something you were upset about. I get it, though. It’s because of Heather.”

This was the perfect time to nod and agree that it was because of Heather, but Cheryl knew that that wasn’t the whole reason she was quiet during the dinner. It was the reason she hadn’t wanted them to join, and hadn’t wanted to go into details about she and Toni hanging out. But during the first part of dinner, before she just decided that checking out of the conversation would be better, that wasn’t the reason she had been closed off. “It’s not… that’s not the whole reason why I was so quiet during dinner.”

Toni furrowed her eyes in confusion. “It wasn’t?”

“No,” Cheryl heard herself say, more than felt it. She couldn’t believe she was about to say what was in her head. Her heart was pounding, she could hear and feel it. She wondered if Toni could hear it too with how hard it was beating. “I was… jealous. I know it’s stupid, but… Jughead was talking about your photography and I remembered that you said… you said that the two of you almost hooked up.”

Toni’s eyebrows shot up, and silence fell over them for a moment. Well, silence apart from Cheryl’s beating heart and her nervous breaths. Toni extinguished her joint, pressing the tip between her fingers, and slid it into her pocket, standing up from the crate. “You were jealous of Jughead Jones?”

“I know, it’s ridiculous, and it might even be the lowest point I’ve ever reached,” Cheryl said, but there was a joking tone in her voice, and it got a small smile from Toni. The Serpent girl took a step closer to Cheryl, and their bodies were not even a foot apart now. “I’m sorry. I know that’s stupid that I was jealous. Just… I didn’t want anyone there to know how close we are in case Heather found out, but also…” Cheryl took in a deep breath, knowing now what was about to come out. “Also, it hurt me every time you said _friend_ , and every time you downplayed how well we knew each other. It’s stupid and hypocritic.”

“So you’re telling me that you were upset at dinner because I was doing exactly what you wanted me to do?” Toni asked, but she didn’t sound upset. She sounded more amused than anything, if Cheryl was judging her tone right.

“I’m sorry.”

Toni shook her head. “Don’t be. Damn… Cheryl Blossom, you are seriously the weirdest person that I’ve ever met.” Cheryl’s eyebrows knit together.

“I—what?”

Toni just chuckled, took a tiny step forward, and then suddenly, her lips were on Cheryl’s. Her soft hands suddenly up near Cheryl’s face, one wrapping behind her neck and the other resting on her jawline. Cheryl was so surprised for a moment that she couldn’t move, but then she felt herself relax into the kiss, and she kissed Toni back.

It was her first time kissing a girl, and maybe that was the reason that Cheryl felt butterflies in her chest and her stomach, and the reason her skin felt extra sensitive as Toni’s thumb stroked her cheek. Or maybe it was because this was Toni, and she could smell that same hint of vanilla that she smelled when pressed up against Toni’s back on the motorcycle. This was Toni, who had been there for her for weeks, and who trusted Cheryl enough to open up to her, and who Cheryl had even managed to open up to. This was Toni, who was tough and strong and brave, but also kind and soft and beautiful.

The kiss broke after what felt like only a few short seconds, but simultaneously much longer. Cheryl felt light headed all of the sudden, but Toni’s hands were still on her cheek and behind her neck, some form of support. Toni looked up at Cheryl with soft, genuine eyes, which were slightly glassy from the alcohol she’d had. “You don’t have to be jealous of Jones,” she promised her. “We’re just friends, even when we did almost hook up, there weren’t any feelings there. And, obviously, he’s dating Betty. And he loves her.”

“I know,” Cheryl murmured. “It was stupid.”

“No,” Toni reassured her, “it wasn’t stupid. You know as well as anyone that feelings don’t always make us think or do the best things.”

“Are you really roasting me about Heather right now?” Cheryl asked, her voice soft. Toni let out a little laugh.

“Only a little.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and Cheryl felt her cheeks reddening. “Um, let me get you home? You’re too drunk to drive your death bike.”

“Okay.”

Cheryl and Toni left through the hole, blocking it back up, and started back for the White Wyrm parking lot. Cheryl’s hand bumped Toni’s as they walked, and a little nervous lump formed in Cheryl’s throat before Toni broke the tension and grabbed her hand. Cheryl felt her heart racing again, but somehow, in the best way.

They got to Cheryl’s car and climbed in, and as Cheryl started it, Toni turned to her and said, “Let’s take the top down?”

Cheryl smiled and silently agreed, removing the top from her car and then pulling out of the parking lot. As she started the drive back to Sunnyside, Toni looked up at the night sky, speckled with hundreds of stars. “You feeling okay?” Cheryl asked her.

“Yeah,” Toni answered. “I’m maybe just a little teensy bit drunk.”

“How many beers did you have after you got off?”

Toni snickered. “Uh, I think you mean how many did I have during the last hour of my shift…”

“Toni!”

“What? I felt like shit so I had one… and then a second... and a third.”

“And then two more after?” Toni nodded, and Cheryl shook her head. “Well, at least it’s not super late, so you should have plenty of time tonight to sleep it off.”

“Yeah.”

They got to Sunnyside, and Cheryl turned off the car and started to get out.

“Wait,” Toni said, “can we just sit here for a second and look at the stars?”

“Okay,” Cheryl agreed, closing her car door and looking up at the sky, where Toni’s eyes were already trained. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Toni cleared her throat a bit awkwardly and then spoke, her eyes still looking upward.

“I like you,” she said. “I didn’t just kiss you because it was spur of the moment.”

“I know,” Cheryl answered. Toni, now looking at the redhead, looked surprised by this answer. “When I spoke to Sweet Pea last weekend… and I told him that I’m gay… the first thing he did was ask if you knew, because you would be happy to hear it. And I told him that you did know, but I didn’t understand what he meant. But he said that, to him, it was obvious that you liked me.”

“So you didn’t know until last weekend?” Toni asked quietly.

Cheryl shrugged. “I didn’t realize, no. But… I think I sort of did know, at the same time.”

“Ah.” Cheryl didn’t know what else to say, so she let silence fall back over them. At some point, Toni said, “Hey… I was supposed to invite you to this thing that’s tomorrow night. I hadn’t gotten around to it, because… well, yeah. Anyway. Fangs is having a little party tomorrow night. It’ll probably just be him, Sweet Pea, me, and maybe Jughead. But you’re invited. If you want to come?”

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed.

“You’re not going to go into jealous mode again?” Toni teased, getting an eyeroll from Cheryl.

“No.”

“Okay, good.”

Cheryl turned her head to look at Toni, at her long, beautiful and colorful hair, at her Serpent jacket, a bit worn but suiting Toni so well, her soft skin and her warm eyes. “You should probably go get some sleep, Toni.”

Toni sighed, meeting Cheryl’s eyes. “Okay.” She climbed out of the car, and Cheryl got out as well, mostly to put the top back up on her car. As she put it back up, Toni came around the car and stood next to her, and when Cheryl was done, she turned to face the Serpent. “Thank you for the ride home.”

“Anytime,” Cheryl said. “Just, don’t forget about your bike tomorrow morning.”

“Like I would,” Toni said back, sarcastically. “Um, so I’ll see you tomorrow? At Fangs’ trailer, at like seven-ish. I’ll text you details when I’m not a little drunk.”

Cheryl smiled. “Okay.” Toni glanced between Cheryl’s eyes for a moment, and then quickly closed the distance between them with a short kiss. It lasted only a second, but Cheryl still felt a sense of electricity shoot down her body at the contact. “See you tomorrow, Toni.”

“Bye, Cheryl,” Toni replied, turning around with a smile on her face, and heading into the trailer park.

* * *

Cheryl arrived home shortly after dropping Toni off, in a great mood. She decided to text Sweet Pea to let him know that things with Toni were all good now. She sent the text as she walked into Thornhill.

**Cheryl – Just finished talking to Toni. All is well again! And I guess I’ll be seeing you at Fangs’ trailer tomorrow.**

As she reached the top of the stairwell, she found herself suddenly facing Jason. “Oh, hey,” she said absently, moving to walk around him.

“Hey,” he answered casually. “Uh, where have you been?”

“I was meeting up with a friend,” Cheryl told him, lifting an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Oh, I just thought you were going to be out for a while once I noticed that you left,” he answered. “I figured you were going to Reggie’s party.”

“No, I didn’t feel like it,” Cheryl said, realizing that her twin was being rather suspicious. “Wait, weren’t you going to Reggie’s party?”

“I was there for like an hour, and then I came back. I was here when you left,” he told her.

“Yeah, I remember. Why are you acting so weird?”

“Uh…”

“Hey, Jason?” a female voice called from down the hall—Heather. “Could you grab me some water too?”

“Oh,” Cheryl said with an eyeroll. “Well. I’ll be in my room, so don’t mind me.” She stepped around Jason and started toward her room.

“Wait, Cheryl,” he said quickly, “I’m sorry. I’m planning on talking to her. I’m heeding your advice, okay?”

Cheryl was actually surprised to hear that. “That’s good to hear, JJ. Have a good night.”

“Uh, yeah, you too.”

Cheryl made her way to her room, which thankfully did not entail passing Jason’s room, so Heather didn’t even have to know she was here. She locked her bedroom door for good measure, and then began readying herself for bed.

When she climbed into bed, she had two messages.

**Sweet Pea – Oh, good to hear! What was up with Toni anyway? I just saw her come home and she seemed like, way happier than normal. What creepy Northside magic did you put on her?**

**Toni – Did you make it home okay?**

Cheryl smiled, deciding to text Toni back first.

**Cheryl – I did. Why aren’t you asleep?**

**Toni – I had to take off my makeup and brush my teeth and shit, I’m not a barbarian.**

**Cheryl – Trust me, I know you’re not.**

**Toni – I should probably sleep now, though. I just wanted to make sure that you made it home.**

**Cheryl – Well, I wasn’t the one who’d been drinking, so I made it back just fine.**

**Toni – Haha. I’ll see you tomorrow, Cheryl.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, goodnight :)**

**Toni – Goodnight :)**

Letting out a happy sigh, she texted Sweet Pea back.

**Cheryl – Oh, you know. A few simple happiness spells.**

**Sweet Pea – Ha. Did you guys have a fight earlier this week?**

**Cheryl – Sort of. There was some miscommunication.**

**Sweet Pea – Second time within a week lol?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, but I think it’s because we’ve been skirting around a particular topic of conversation. And it finally was brought up tonight. So I don’t expect much more miscommunication to come. Hopefully.**

**Sweet Pea – Let me guess, you guys had a sappy moment of ‘omg I have a crush on you’ and ‘omg me too!!’ ??**

**Cheryl – Shut up.**

**Sweet Pea – Okay, good to hear. I’ll make sure to tease Toni a shit ton tomorrow morning when she wakes up :D**

**Cheryl – She’ll probably beat you up.**

**Sweet Pea – Oh trust me, I know. It’s worth it though to see her face.**

**Cheryl – Lol if you say so. I’m going to go to sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow Sweet Pea.**

**Sweet Pea – Cool! See you, Red! Goodnight!**

Cheryl plugged her phone in and curled up in her red, silk sheets, feeling surprisingly relaxed even despite the fact that her former best friend was only a couple rooms away. She didn’t even think about that as she drifted off, excited to see Toni again tomorrow, and to, hopefully soon, finally get to explore her feelings for the Serpent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> =D I hope I did this chapter justice! I'm so excited for you all to get to enjoy Choni's budding relationship in the next few chapters, and we will of course get into Cheryl's coming out, and even more. Don't forget, we're just about halfway through this story, there's still a LOT left! :)  
> I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to comments for last chapter! I promise I will respond to comments on this chapter, so please feel free to leave your thoughts :D  
> I appreciate you all very much for being here, I really hope that all of you are able to stay healthy and safe among everything that is happening right now. I hope that this story can help distract you even a little bit from all of the stressful things happening.  
> I will see you all on Thursday <3 xx


	15. do you mind if i see you tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is feeling on top of the world, and spends the day hanging out with Toni on the Southside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning lovelies! Sorry this update isn't up as early as most Thursdays - I'm on Spring Break so I had no reason to be up early today (usually on Thursdays I have to be at work at 8am... although, after spring break, my work might not even be open for the rest of the semester, so who knows, maybe I'll never have to wake up that early for a while... :/ ). I've been practicing social distancing - not full self quarantine because at the moment due to things outside of my control, that isn't really possible. I know this time is super stressful and scary for so many people. Please, if you need to talk to someone, feel free to DM me on Twitter @BrittzandTana. If I don't follow you, it won't allow you to DM me, so just tweet at me and I'll gladly follow you back <3  
> Anyway, this is a nice fluffy chapter! I think there's a couple more mostly fluffy chapters before we get to a lot more drama, and I think you guys deserve that break from the burn.  
> Enjoy <3 xx

It was Saturday morning, and Cheryl woke up without a care in the world.

She hadn’t gotten such a good night of sleep in longer than she could remember, and she knew her ease of rest had come from the fact that she had felt at such peace the night before.

But she let her peaceful state make her forget of the one stressor that was inside the very walls of Thornhill, and as she went downstairs to make breakfast, after readying herself for the day, she heard the one voice that could ruin a good mood in a second. Heather. She’d stayed the night, which must’ve meant that whatever _talk_ Jason had had with her had gone well—for Heather, at least.

Rolling her eyes to herself and bracing herself to ignore her brother and her ex-best friend, she entered the kitchen. Heather’s eyes were immediately on her, but Cheryl ignored her as she went to the fridge. She could practically feel Heather sizing her up. Cheryl was wearing some skinny jeans with tears in them, which she’d purchased during her last shopping spree, as well as a tight red tank top and her leather jacket. The outfit was for later, of course, but Cheryl didn’t want to change again later and, if she was honest, she was hoping to get to see Toni before she met up with the rest of the group for the party later.

Heather had never seen Cheryl in this sort of outfit, and by the look the blonde had given her when she walked in, she was already judging her for it. “Since when do you have a leather jacket?” she heard Heather ask behind her, and she was pretty sure she heard Jason sigh.

“Since a long time ago, actually,” Cheryl answered dully, grabbing some yogurt out of the fridge and going over to the cabinet to grab a bowl. She kept her eyes pointedly away from Heather.

“Oh, wait, I remember,” Heather continued. “You wore it once, asked me what I thought, and I said it made you look like a Southsider. I thought you got rid of it.”

“I didn’t.”

“Obviously.”

Jason cleared his throat. “Eat your breakfast, Heather.”

“I am,” she snapped at him, and Cheryl tried not to smirk at the thought that she’d pissed off the blonde.

She got herself some yogurt with granola, and decided to seat herself at the breakfast table, despite the fact that both Jason and Heather were sitting there. She made sure to avoid eye contact, and succeeded in this by opening her phone and texting Toni.

**Cheryl – Good morning! You wouldn’t believe who’s in my house this morning.**

**Toni – Hm, let me guess… Heather!?!?! Did I get it?**

**Cheryl – Ha. Yeah.**

**Toni – How come your brother is sleeping with her? Doesn’t he know that you’re mad about it?**

**Cheryl – I told him he can do what he wants, but to watch out for her. I don’t see it lasting long, to be honest. Apparently she’s speaking to me now. Trying to make me mad or something.**

**Toni – Well, don’t let it get to you.**

**Cheryl – I’m not. What are you up to this morning?**

**Toni – Oh, not much. My head’s hurting a little from last night, so I’m taking it easy. Plus, work actually did suck yesterday and my feet are kind of killing me.**

**Cheryl – You don’t work today, right?**

**Toni – Right. I was supposed to, but they took me off the schedule earlier this week. Which I mean, is nice since I can go to the party, but it does suck.**

**Cheryl – Well, let me know if you want any company before the party.**

**Toni – That does sound like it would be a nice distraction from the fact that I won’t be making any money. Wanna come over sometime after noon?**

**Cheryl – Sure.**

**Toni – Cool. Oh, but Sweets and Noah are here, and Noah has definitely been crushing on you since you last met him.**

**Cheryl – Lol, well, he’s very sweet so.**

**Toni – Let me know when you’re headed here, I’m going to work on the photos so that hopefully they’re done when you get here.**

**Cheryl – Cool :)**

Cheryl put down her phone to finish eating, and only then did she realize that Jason and Heather had been silent since she sat down. She finally looked up at them, raising an eyebrow as she noticed that they were both looking at her. “Do you mind?” she snapped.

“I’ve just never seen you look so happy texting someone before,” Jason admitted to her, and Cheryl felt her cheeks warm up as she realized that she must’ve been smiling as she texted Toni.

“Yeah well, I guess I’ve never had anyone in my life who could make me so happy just from texting before,” she quipped, finally making eye contact with Heather to make sure she got the message, and then she took the final bite of her yogurt, picked up her bowl, brought it to the sink and then left the kitchen.

Admittedly, Cheryl was embarrassed that she’d been caught being all smiley texting Toni. She hadn’t realized that her face gave it away so easily, but at least neither Heather nor Jason knew who she could’ve been texting.

Shortly after noon, after noticing that Heather had left Thornhill, Cheryl texted Toni that she was on her way over, and left for Sunnyside.

She knew the way there without thinking by now, and she hardly felt out of place as she walked through the trailer park. She confidently approached Sweet Pea’s trailer and knocked, and the door swung open immediately, young Noah standing there with a small smile on his face. “Hi,” Cheryl said to him, holding back a chuckle.

“You here to see Toni?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I am.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “What’s so special about _her_?”

“Let her in, Noah,” Toni said from around the corner. He huffed, stepping back to let Cheryl in, and the redhead immediately looked toward the couch at Toni, who was seated with her laptop on her lap. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Cheryl said, closing the door behind her as Noah went to the little table where he had a notebook sitting open at one of the seats. Homework, it looked like. Cheryl went over to sit next to Toni, who was opening something on her computer.

“Alright, I just finished with the photos I’m going to turn in.”

“I thought you were just turning in one?”

“She said at least one, max five, and I liked too many of them to not submit multiple,” Toni admitted. “Look.”

She clicked through five of the photos from Wednesday, and Cheryl was astounded at how good she looked in them. Even though the photos had looked amazing on Wednesday, they looked basically perfect now. “Wow. This looks like something you would see in like, a magazine.”

“Wow, that’s a pretty good compliment,” Toni said with a chuckle. “I have to submit them online by tonight, so I’m glad I finally finished.”

“You make me look really good,” Cheryl said, looking back at the pictures.

Toni smiled. “You didn’t need me for that.”

Cheryl blushed as she looked at Toni, and they stared at each other for a moment before Noah suddenly said, “Can we order pizza?”

Toni let out a breath, looking past Cheryl at the boy. “Didn’t Sweet Pea go out to buy some groceries? He should be back soon, and we can make some lunch.”

“I want pizza,” Noah muttered, looking dejectedly at his homework.

Cheryl glanced between him and Toni. She bit down on the inside of her lower lip, and then let out a breath and looked at Noah. “What kind of pizza do you like, Noah?”

He looked at her hopefully. “Pepperoni. Or sausage. Anything with meat. Except Hawaiian. Pineapple is disgusting.”

Cheryl looked hopefully at Toni. “How about a pepperoni and a cheese?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Toni insisted.

“I’m sure Sweet Pea won’t mind,” she insisted. “I could use lunch about now anyway.”

Toni sighed. “Alright. Let’s order pizza.”

Noah cheered and Cheryl grabbed her phone, going online to place the order.

About ten minutes later, Sweet Pea arrived with a few bags of groceries, and he nodded at Cheryl when he came in. “Hey, Red.”

“Hey, Sweet Pea.”

“Sweets!” Noah exclaimed. “Cheryl ordered pizza!”

Sweet Pea grinned. “Oh yeah? Awesome. I wasn’t excited to cook anyway.”

Cheryl grinned at Toni. “See?”

“Oh shut up.”

When the pizza arrived, they all squeezed into the living room to eat, and Sweet Pea glanced between Toni and Cheryl as they did. “So, Tiny, it’s nice to see you less grumpy than the past couple of days.”

“Shut up,” Toni snapped at him.

* * *

The evening found Toni, Cheryl, and Sweet Pea going over to Fangs’ trailer on the other side of Sunnyside. They’d spent the evening playing card games with Noah after lunch, and it had been fun, but Cheryl was practically aching to talk to Toni alone. It was hard in these small trailers, especially when Toni didn’t even have her own space anywhere. She was understanding more and more the importance of Toni’s getaway spots throughout the Southside. Sometimes, those were the only places she could truly be alone. Cheryl could hardly imagine living like that.

Toni didn’t seem to mind too much, though, but Cheryl wondered if she was just good at covering it up. After all, the Serpent girl was definitely good at keeping feelings and reactions to herself. She must be, because with all of the things she’d been through, she would have to be completely shut off to not have actually _felt_ anything.

They knocked on Fangs’ door and, before waiting for anyone to open it up, Sweet Pea just opened it and walked right in. “Hey! Sweets!” Fangs exclaimed. “Come on in, come on in!” Sweet Pea entered the trailer, Toni and Cheryl on his tail. “Hey, Tiny Toni! Hey, Red!”

Cheryl glanced around the trailer. Somehow, it seemed to be a bit bigger than Sweet Pea’s or Toni’s uncle’s, but she couldn’t tell if it felt bigger actually, or if it only seemed bigger because of how many people it was managing to fit currently.

It was the three of them, Fangs, Joaquin, Jughead, and Betty. Two more people than Toni had told Cheryl, but it didn’t really matter. “Hey Fangs,” Toni greeted. “Where’s the alcohol at?”

“Thanks to Felicity, we actually have a lot,” Fangs said, standing from where he was sitting in the living room, in an old, rickety chair. “In the fridge, there’s some beers, but there’s some bottles of harder stuff in the cabinet there.” He pointed in the kitchen, and Toni nodded before glancing behind her at Cheryl.

“Want something?”

“Beer?”

“You got it.”

“Come on in, guys,” Fangs insisted, “sit down. We were just discussing how Jughead is officially going soft.”

Jughead rolled his eyes as Sweet Pea and Cheryl walked into the living area, the former plopping down onto the couch next to Jughead and Betty. There was a little bit of space left on the couch, because both Joaquin and Fangs were seated in chairs, but Cheryl wasn’t sure that it was enough room for her and Toni, so she just leaned against the wall of the trailer. “I am _not_ going soft.”

“Aren’t you working on the Riverdale High newspaper?” Joaquin asked.

“Yes, he is,” Betty answered for him, “but that doesn’t make him any less capable of being a Serpent.”

“Aw, look at your girl sticking up for you, Jones!” Sweet Pea teased, tousling with Jughead’s beanie, causing the other guy to smack away his arm.

“Don’t be sexist, Sweet Pea!” Toni snapped, walking into the living room with three beers. She handed one to Sweet Pea, then one to Cheryl.

“Thanks,” Cheryl said, and Toni gave her a smile, sitting down on the arm of the couch. She glanced down at the spot in between Sweet Pea and the arm of the chair, so Cheryl moved to sit there, turning back into the conversation.

“All of you guys know that I can take a beating, okay? And if you don’t already know that I can pack a punch, I’d be happy to show you,” Jughead said jokingly, making pointed eye contact with all of the guys in the room.

Cheryl glanced at Toni. “Is he talking about—”

“Initiation?” Sweet Pea finished for her, drawing the redhead’s attention to him. “Yep. Who told you about it?”

“I did,” Toni answered, lifting an eyebrow at her friend.

“Then I guess you got to hear about Toni’s initiation?” Fangs said with a snicker. Toni rolled her eyes.

“Shut up dude,” Toni snapped.

“Hey, it wasn’t like I was watching,” Fangs said, “seeing a girl strip is really not high on my list of interests.”

Joaquin smirked, and he and Fangs exchanged a brief eye contact. Cheryl realized now that perhaps they were dating, but she didn’t inquire about it.

“Hey, I thought this was a party,” Toni interrupted, “where’s the food?”

“Felicity said she’d bring us something,” Fangs told her.

“How does Felicity have her life in order while yours is a mess?” Sweet Pea asked.

Fangs rolled his eyes. “She has a real job, that’s how. Real enough that she’s out of here pretty soon.”

“What do you mean?” Jughead asked.

“She’s saved up enough to get closer to New York City,” Fangs told them. “She was never really one for Serpent life. Of course, she’ll always be one of us, but she already talked to FP about getting away from it.”

“So, you’re gonna be living on your own?” Betty asked.

Fangs shrugged. “Guess so. It’s fine, not like I have many bills to pay. FP said as long as I keep doing good for the Serpents, he’ll make sure my electricity and water stays on.”

Toni had perked up at hearing that, and Cheryl knew why before she started talking. “Any chance you’re looking for a roommate?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Fangs leaned back a little. “Oh yeah, you’re out of your uncle’s for good, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve been crashing on Sweets’ couch. But I’m paying rent,” Toni told him.

“Well, I’m totally down for you to move in. Felicity should be gone in a week or two I think,” he told her.

Toni grinned. “Cool.”

“Noah’s gonna be upset,” Sweet Pea said.

“I’ll still see him all the time,” Toni rebutted with a shake of her head.

“Oh, I meant since Cheryl won’t be coming around my place anymore,” Sweet Pea teased, and Cheryl felt herself blush a little.

“Does Noah have a crush on Cheryl?” Jughead asked in amusement.

“Definitely,” Toni said with a nod. “She bought him pizza today, too, so I’m pretty sure it’s moved from a crush to _love_.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “He’s sweet.”

“Hey, how about some shots guys?” Sweet Pea suggested, hopping up from the couch and moving into the kitchen.

So they all took some shots, and then Felicity arrived with some cheap fried chicken takeout, which she dispersed among the group as she greeted them all. She made eye contact with Cheryl, similar judgment in her gaze as the first time Cheryl met her at the bonfire party, but it disappeared after a moment. She must’ve been able to infer that if Cheryl was at such a small party too, she wasn’t just a Northside bitch.

Fangs and Toni told Felicity about their new roommate plan, and Felicity seemed to approve of Toni replacing her. The older girl was definitely kind of scary, but she seemed like a good sister to Fangs and a good friend to the other high schoolers.

After the previous weekend, and getting so drunk at Reggie’s party, Cheryl wasn’t really in the mood to drink too much, so she kept her drinks to the minimum—and even the shot she had taken, she'd only filled halfway. She couldn’t say the same about Toni or any of the other people at the party. Even Betty seemed to over-indulge. She acted differently around the Serpents than she did when Cheryl saw her at school, but didn’t Cheryl too? The Serpents were easier to be around than the people at Riverdale High. There was less judgment, and everyone here were genuinely friends with each other. In the Northside, the same thing couldn’t be said about most friend groups.

They started playing truth or day at some point—Fangs’ idea to “get to know the two Northsiders.” Most of the Serpents seemed to like picking dare, and the dares given were a mix of weird stuff and downright terrible ideas. Fangs’ dare to Joaquin was to chug a glass of beer mixed with milk. Sweet Pea’s dare to Felicity was to lick the floor—although coming from Sweet Pea, that one wasn’t all that strange.

After Felicity had licked the floor, bravely and without any hesitation, her gaze settled right onto Cheryl. “Red,” she said, “truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Cheryl answered, not prepared to handle whatever strange dare Felicity had up her sleeve.

“Lame,” Fangs and Sweet Pea muttered simultaneously. Cheryl ignored them, maintaining eye contact with Felicity as she hummed thoughtfully.

“What do you think of the Southside? Aren’t you practically Northside royalty?”

Cheryl couldn’t say she was surprised by the question, but she did expect something a bit more accusatory if she was honest. “I like it, actually,” she admitted honestly. “Some of it takes some getting used to, and it took me some time to feel comfortable anywhere on this side of town. But… there are a lot of places on the Southside that are a lot nicer than I would’ve expected. And I like those places.”

She glanced at Toni for a moment after answering, catching a small smile on the girl’s face. Felicity nodded approvingly. “Good answer, Red.”

Cheryl gave Fangs’ sister a small nod in response, and then her eyes danced around the circle of people, allowing them to land on Toni, the only person she felt comfortable daring or asking anything from. Plus, no one had yet picked on Toni on this first round. “Toni,” she said, “truth or dare?”

Cheryl didn’t know what she would say if Toni picked dare, but she also wasn’t sure what she would say if Toni picked truth. “Hm… I’ll go truth too,” Toni decided. “Ask me anything, Red.”

Her tone of voice as she asked the question was a dare in and of itself, and Cheryl could almost be fooled into thinking they were alone in this room—that she really could ask anything, but of course, that wasn’t the case. But what could she ask? She decided on something less interesting, for lack of any other ideas. “What do you think of everyone in this room?”

“C’mon, Tiny,” Sweet Pea said, “there’s a right answer.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Sweet Pea, you’re an ass, but I love you. Jughead, you’re a nerd. Betty, you’re cool, but I don’t really know you. Joaquin, you’re the best gay Serpent I know. Fangs, the second best gay Serpent. Felicity, you’re a badass for getting out of this place, and thanks for being okay with me taking your room after you leave.” That just left Cheryl, who was waiting attentively to see what Toni would say in front of everyone. “Cheryl, you… were really not what I expected when we first met, but you’d defied the expectations I did have.”

Cheryl smiled a little, and the then the game moved forward, and Toni picked on Betty next. They went around the room doing a mix of truths and dares. Betty had to give up what she thought was the weirdest thing about Jughead, Fangs had to give everyone his best horse impression, and then Fangs looked at Toni and wiggled his eyebrows. “Toni, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Toni said, and Cheryl wondered if she was picking truth to avoid doing the weird things her friends kept daring people to do.

“Hm… you’re our resident bisexual,” he noted. “Who in this circle is the most attractive?”

Toni smirked. “Really? This is no contest, most of you are ugly motherfuckers.”

“Excuse you,” Sweet Pea snapped.

Cheryl’s heart was pounding, because she was pretty sure that Toni would say her. At least, she sure hoped that she would say her. Otherwise that would be weird, right? They’d kissed the previous day, so Toni must be attracted to her, right? “Hm… Well, objectively, I’d have to go with Cheryl.”

“Objectively, huh?” Sweet Pea asked, which got him a glare from Toni.

“Yes. No offense to any of you guys,” Toni said, looking around the circle, “but we can’t be surprised that the Northside Princess would win that one, can we?”

Cheryl rolled her eyes at that, but she knew that Toni was just covering her ass. The game went on a little longer, and Cheryl had to answer one more dumb question that Joaquin ended up asking her. The game got old after everyone had gone two or three times, and they gave up on playing. Cheryl had been drinking coke instead of beer since they had taken shots, but everyone else was on their second or third since the shots. Toni, in total, had had four beers that night, and a shot. Somehow, though, she seemed pretty levelheaded.

They turned on some trash TV as they hung out and continued to drink for a while, talking and turning their conversation in a drinking game. Whenever someone cursed, they had to take a drink. In a group full of Serpents, that meant a lot of drinking kept occurring.

Jughead and Betty left the party at around eleven, claiming that they had an early morning the next day, but everyone seemed to know that they were really just heading back to Jughead’s trailer to have sex. Felicity disappeared into her bedroom shortly after that, and then Toni and Cheryl exchanged looks, silently agreeing that they would excuse themselves too.

“I’m gonna go, I think,” Cheryl said first, and Toni nodded.

“Me, too,” she said. “Thanks for the party, Fangs. Hit me up about when Felicity is moving when you know, okay?”

“Will do, see you at school on Monday,” he said, nodding at her. “Bye, Red, nice to see you.”

“You too.”

Cheryl and Toni left the trailer, and Cheryl gave the smaller girl a curious look. “You’re pretty coherent for how much you’ve had to drink tonight, compared to yesterday anyway.”

“Yesterday, what I drank was all in a period of like, forty-five minutes. Today, it was multiple hours. I’m a big girl, Cheryl, I know how to drink responsibly,” Toni teased. “You want me to walk you to your car?”

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed.

As they walked toward Cheryl’s car, the redhead took in a breath and looked over at the smaller girl. “Do you work tomorrow?” Toni nodded. “When?”

“Like four,” Toni answered. “Until nine, I think. Not a long shift. Why?”

Cheryl dropped her gaze away from Toni. “I’d like to see you again tomorrow.”

“Would you?” Toni asked teasingly. “Well. I’m glad we’re past the excuses.” Cheryl felt a little blush come to her cheeks. “How about noon?”

Cheryl nodded. “Do you want us to meet somewhere on the Southside, or…”

“Or?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Would you want to come over to Thornhill?” Cheryl asked bravely. She was sure that Toni wasn’t completely comfortable with going to Thornhill, based on their photoshoot at Thornhill earlier in the week, when Toni had been pretty concerned about who would be at the house. “If not, that’s okay.”

“I can come over,” Toni agreed, not looking phased.

They were reaching Cheryl’s car by now. “Okay, cool.”

Toni smiled at her softly. “Thanks for coming. And, I’m sorry again about the past couple of days.”

“Toni, you’re forgiven,” Cheryl insisted, “and it’s forgotten. Okay?” Cheryl opened her car door, but before she could slide into her seat, Toni caught her wrist gently, and Cheryl faced the shorter girl. Cheryl took in a shaky breath, fully aware of her body reacting to being so close to Toni.

Toni tilted her face up, and Cheryl’s lips met hers in a soft kiss. It was slow and gentle, but it didn’t stop Cheryl’s body from wanting to be closer, touching more of Toni’s soft skin. She wanted to get lost in Toni’s touch and her kiss. So badly.

Their lips finally pulled apart, and Cheryl exhaled slowly. “I’ll see you tomorrow…”

“Yeah,” Toni answered. “Bye, Cheryl.”

“Bye, Toni.”

Cheryl got into her car as Toni took some steps back, and the Serpent watched as Cheryl drove away. Cheryl couldn’t help but grin as she drove away from Sunnyside and toward the Northside of town. This night had been a success, and she was more than excited to meet up with Toni again the next day. _Alone_ , just the two of them.

It was going to be great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was enjoyable! Sidenote: I don't agree with Noah's pizza preference. Even when I used to eat meat, I hated meat on pizza, and I love pineapple on pizza. It's good, okay?  
> I'm trying to keep myself motivated to write, but with everything going on, I'm feeling so overwhelmed that it's hard to let myself get lost in writing anything. I keep feeling guilty when I'm not working on homework, even though I've spent multiple hours a day EVERY DAY since Sunday working on homework. I just have so much to do, ugh. It's fine. I have some plans today to relax AND write, and I'll probably limit how much homework I let myself do, because I've been so stressed and I just need the break, you know?  
> If you're in self quarantine or are practicing social distancing, feel free to tweet at me or DM me, and let's chat to keep us all entertained. Also, comment on this update if you'd be interested in another Periscope maybe tomorrow, or Sunday? Lemme know! (I also posted a poll on Twitter so you can let me know there as well!) :D  
> I very much appreciate all of you being here. Please do your best to stay healthy, and do as much as you can to help ensure that everyone can stay healthy. We got this guys, we can get through this <3 xx


	16. i think i might push my luck with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni spend the day alone together, and Cheryl starts to think about what life is like on the Southside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE!!!  
> I know many of you are in isolation or self quarantine or are social distancing, and I decided that all of you deserve an extra update to help distract you from everything <3 I know it's so hard, so I just wanted to try and make it any easier.  
> Enjoy <3 xx

The knock on the door at noon the following day, Sunday, had Cheryl practically leaping off of the couch in the sitting room where she’d been waiting for Toni. Her brother was home, and she wasn’t sure if her mother was lurking somewhere in the halls, so she’d wanted to be ready to let Toni in as soon as she got there.

She swung open the door, trying not to seem too eager, but in reality, she was quite excited to hang out with Toni. The party the night before had been fun, but Cheryl wanted to just talk to Toni, _really_ talk to her.

“Hey,” Toni said, looking behind Cheryl quickly, as if checking to be sure that no one was there.

“Hey!” Cheryl answered with a smile. “Come on in.”

Toni did so, stepping into the huge foyer for the second time. “Man, even though I just saw this place on Wednesday, it stills seems so huge.”

“One never really gets used to it,” Cheryl insisted.

“Really? You’re not used to it?”

“Okay… maybe I am. Come on, let’s go upstairs. I think my mother might be home, so we’re going to avoid her,” Cheryl explained. Toni looked a little worried, but her expression was steeled quickly and she began to follow Cheryl through the house and up the stairs to her bedroom.

Once they were inside, Cheryl closed the door with purpose and then turned to look at Toni. “So, your mom is home?”

“I’m not completely sure, but better safe than sorry. Jason is here, though,” Cheryl told her.

“Ah, okay.”

Cheryl hesitated before speaking again. “I’m sorry, would you rather go somewhere else? I’m sure she won’t bother us. She never really comes up here. Trust me, I only see her when I’m forced to, and that’s usually in the kitchen or dining room, since needing food is basically the only thing we have in common.”

Toni let out a little laugh at that. “No, that’s okay. I figured you’d be more worried about her seeing me here, though.”

“Well, frankly, I couldn’t care less about what she thinks about anything,” Cheryl insisted. “So. Did you tell Noah about your plans to move into Fangs’ trailer?”

“I did,” Toni answered, “and as Sweet Pea suspected, he was very disappointed that you won’t be coming by as much anymore.”

Cheryl chuckled. “Well. I’m sure he’ll get over it. He’s a nice kid.”

“He is,” Toni agreed. “I can’t blame him for thinking you’re cute.”

Cheryl knew that a blush came to her cheeks, but she ignored it and cleared her throat a little. Toni had come in and sat on the end of her bed, but Cheryl was still standing by the door, and she made her way closer to her closet. “So, I went on a shopping spree over Spring break, and I still haven’t gone through my whole haul. Wanna help me look through it?”

“Sure?” Toni answered. “How much is there to go through?”

“A couple bags,” Cheryl admitted. “I went through most of it already.”

“That’s crazy. I haven’t bought new clothes in like, five years. Most of my ‘newer’ stuff was given to me by Felicity,” Toni said. Cheryl didn’t know what to say to that, so she just went over to her shopping bags from a couple of weeks ago. She’d meant to go through all of it, but when everything had happened with Heather, she’d all but forgotten that it was still left to be put away.

She opened up the first bag and noticed that it was a lot of the mesh stuff she’d bought. She’d definitely taken Toni’s style into account when buying clothes that day, after realizing that she loved her aesthetic. So she’d made one sweep through a store particularly stocked with mesh items, and had perhaps bought more than she would even wear.

“You’ll like this,” she said, grabbing the bag and turning to toss it to Toni, who caught it on her lap and opened it up.

“I’ve never seen you wear anything like this,” Toni commented, pulling out a couple of mesh tops and then some fishnets.

“Well,” Cheryl said, “I guess I was inspired.”

Toni smirked, selecting one of the black, mesh crop tops, and then balled it up and sent it flying toward Cheryl, who barely caught it. “Well, let’s see it then!”

“What do I wear it with?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Toni looked like she wanted to say something for a minute, but then she shut her mouth and stood up from the bed, leaving the rest of the clothes sitting on the comforter. Coming over to Cheryl’s huge closet, she walked past Cheryl to look around the space. Cheryl watched as her gaze jumped around the different parts of the closet. The space held a dresser, two shelf units, and a hanger portion. And every inch of it was full.

“What are you looking for?”

“Bras,” Toni answered, and Cheryl tried not to blush as she pointed to the dresser drawer that held all of her bras and underwear. Toni opened it up, scanning its contents and then selecting a simple, plain black bra. She handed it to Cheryl, and then began to peruse the shelf with her pants in it. She ended up picking some mid-rise, dark wash jeans, and handed those to Cheryl as well. “Here.” She then exited the closet and plopped back on the end of the bed. “Also, your closet is fucking huge.”

“Guess we know how I managed to stay in there so long then, huh?” Cheryl asked, getting a smirk from Toni. “It doesn’t have any lights, though, so turn around, I can’t change in there.”

Toni turned around, facing the head of the bed, and asked, “A walk in closet without any lights? How does that make sense?”

“This house was built forever ago. They used to light it up with candles,” Cheryl answered, peeling off her top and her bra. She felt oddly exposed, knowing that Toni was right there, even if her eyes were directed elsewhere.

“I guess that would make sense,” Toni said. “I could literally live in your room, with your bathroom and closet and that’s it. I might not have any source of food but at least I could starve to death comfortably.”

Cheryl laughed lightly. “Oh, Toni.”

“What? I’m serious.”

Cheryl put on the black bra and the mesh top, and began to strip off the leggings she’d been wearing. “It would be a very comfortable, yet very lonely, death.” Toni was quiet after that as Cheryl finished changing, and when she was fully dressed in the outfit Toni had chosen, she stepped closer to the bed. “Okay, what do you think?”

Toni turned around, her eyes immediately looking over Cheryl’s body. “Damn,” she said. “It looks good, Red.”

Cheryl wanted to cross her arms, feeling a little bit exposed. She was used to crop tops, she wore those occasionally, but the mesh made her feel like she wasn’t wearing a shirt at all. “Yeah? I’ve never really worn stuff like this before.”

“Well,” Toni said, “you look hot. Don’t act so surprised, though. You know you do.”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip and turned toward her full length mirror, looking over her outfit. “It does look good. What else do I have in that bag?”

“You don’t even know what you bought?” Toni asked, grabbing the bag and pulling out some more of the stuff. Cheryl just shrugged. “Some fishnets, and a couple more tops almost identical to that one. Why’d you buy so many?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl answered, “I wanted to experiment.” She walked over to where Toni was and picked up the other two mesh tops. One of them had a rose pattern embroidered into it, and it was long sleeved. “This one is a lot different, see?” Toni nodded. The third one was pretty much identical to the first, but with slightly longer sleeves. “Well, maybe I don’t need this one. You want it?”

Toni gave her a curious look. “Sure, I guess,” she agreed. Cheryl smiled and grabbed the fishnets and other shirt, walking to her closer to put them away. “So,” Toni continued, “do you really get lonely in here?”

“If I spend too much time in here alone, of course,” Cheryl answered. “When I was a kid, I spent all my time with Jason, so I never got lonely. Then, I had Heather, and I still wasn’t really all that lonely. But the older I got, the more often I would find myself sitting in here, during some time when Heather was busy or something, and realize that I didn’t really have anyone else… _that_ was lonely.”

“That sucks, to have your bedroom remind you of being lonely.”

“Yeah.”

“I guess you’re gonna have to figure out a way replace those associations.”

Cheryl wasn’t sure if Toni was insinuating what she thought she was, but she decided to assume that she wasn’t, and continued putting clothes away. Toni continued looking around Cheryl’s room for a moment, and then she seemed to notice that Cheryl had started unloading the other bags.

“What, no more fashion show?” Toni teased.

“The other stuff is pretty boring,” Cheryl answered, “mostly some replacements for old springtime tops that were getting old.”

“In Sunnyside, we don’t replace things that are getting old. We wear them until they’re falling apart, and then we don’t even throw them away, we give them to someone else who needs them,” Toni said.

Cheryl nodded. “I’ve never thought much about that. I never really realized the lifestyle difference until…”

“Until you met me?” Toni asked, smirking.

“I was going to say until I’d seen the inside of the Sunnyside trailers.” Toni nodded. Cheryl thought for a minute, and then made a decision.

“Well, I have a lot of clothes I don’t need—some that I just replaced, and some that are years old and that I don’t want to wear or replace. Maybe I’ll throw them in a bag and we can take them to Sunnyside and give them away,” Cheryl said, avoiding Toni’s gaze for a moment before finally looking over at her, when the other girl didn’t reply immediately.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think there’d be enough people who would want them?”

“Uh, definitely,” Toni answered, getting off of the bed and coming over to her. “There’s a lot of kids in Sunnyside who could use some clothes, and they’ll gladly get clothes that are too big for them too, since they’ll be able to grow into them.”

“Okay, then it’s settled. Let me start pulling some stuff out.”

And that’s how they spent the next hour pulling clothes out of Cheryl’s closet and separating them into piles. She definitely kept more of them than she decided to give away, but she still ended up with a whole garbage bag full of clothes. When the whole job was done, Cheryl set the bag by her bedroom door and let out a breath.

“The next time I come to Sunnyside, I’ll bring them,” Cheryl told Toni, who had collapsed onto Cheryl’s bed.

“I didn’t realize that I was getting myself into a _workout_ when I agreed to come over,” Toni said, as Cheryl came over and sat next to her on the bed. The Serpent sat up a little, smiling at Cheryl. “It’s really nice that you did that, though. Those clothes will help a lot of people.”

“Everyone deserves to have good quality clothes,” Cheryl stated simply. “I have far more than I need. Half of those things I had pretty much forgotten I’d even had.”

Toni chuckled. “See, that’s how you know you have too many clothes. Seriously, though, Cheryl. It will—or, it _does_ —mean a lot.” Cheryl smiled, and Toni sat up a little more, their faces now close together. Cheryl was the one to lean closer and press her lips to Toni’s, but then the smaller girl immediately took control of the kiss. It was soft, but firm at the same time, and filled with purpose.

Cheryl rotated how she was sitting so that she was facing Toni directly, and the Serpent’s hand found Cheryl’s cheek, her thumb dragging against her jaw. Cheryl felt herself melting into Toni, and suddenly felt Toni’s other hand land on her exposed waist. She inhaled sharply through her nose, a small moan barely escaping her throat as short nails pressed into the soft skin on her lower back.

Cheryl reached for Toni’s hair, her fingers tangling into the soft mess of colored strands. Doing so elicited a noise from Toni, and Cheryl smiled into their kiss. She could so easily get lost in this, in kissing and touching this beautiful girl. She almost did, too, until the sound of footsteps and a voice immediately tore her out of her trance.

“Cheryl?” It was Jason, _thank goodness_ , but still, Toni and Cheryl immediately pulled apart, and Cheryl practically jumped off of her bed. He knocked on the door, calling her name again, and Cheryl went over to it, opening it.

“Yes?” she demanded impatiently.

“Uh, there’s a motorcycle outside, and mom asked me whose it was…” Cheryl let out a groan, and Jason’s gaze went over her shoulder, landing on, undoubtedly, Toni. “I’m guessing it’s hers?”

“Yeah, uh, that’s mine,” Toni answered. “Should I move it?”

“I mean, there’s no point,” Jason answered, “she already saw it. I’m Jason. And you are…?”

“Toni Topaz,” Toni answered. “I’m a friend of Cheryl’s.”

“Well, Toni Topaz, I don’t think our mother is going to—”

“Cheryl!” a shrill voice shouted suddenly. It would’ve made Cheryl jump in surprise if she hadn’t been so used to it.

“Great,” she muttered, glancing back at Toni, “my hideous mother is coming to join the conversation.”

“Cheryl,” Jason tutted, but then Penelope was there, standing next to Jason with her hands on her hips, and her face in a scowl.

“Cheryl, what is that death trap _motorcycle_ doing in _my_ driveway?” she snapped angrily.

“It’s my friend’s,” Cheryl answered with an eyeroll.

“Friend?” Penelope snapped, and Cheryl stepped back so that her mother could see into her room.

“See? No big deal. Now leave me alone.”

“What makes you think you can bring this sort of _trash_ into this home?” Penelope demanded, her harsh gaze going back to Cheryl and completely ignoring Toni. “And _what_ are you wearing?”

“Clothes,” Cheryl answered tightly, taking a threatening step closer to her mother, “and Toni is _no_ sort of trash, Mumsie. So, if you’d kindly move your hideous, hateful self out of my bedroom, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“You ungrateful child,” Penelope growled. “I have let too many things slide recently, and now you are becoming a rotten disgrace on the Blossom name! Just wait until your father hears about this, Cheryl.”

“Oh, I’m on the edge of my seat,” Cheryl said sarcastically. “Toodle loo, mother!”

“Cheryl Marjorie—”

Cheryl slammed the door in her face before she could finish talking, locking it pointedly. She heard two sets of feet walking away—one definitely stomping—and once she couldn’t hear them anymore, she turned back to face Toni, who was looking at her with fairly wide eyes. “Shit, that was…”

“Intense? Ridiculous?”

“I was going to say badass,” Toni answered, “talking about you, of course. Your mother seems like a nightmare.”

“Oh, she is,” Cheryl assured her. “She’s absolutely horrid. Sorry you had to meet Jason that way, though. He’s actually decent, but as my mother’s favorite, he can sometimes be a bit… rude. When under her influence, I mean.”

“You say that like she possesses him,” Toni said with a chuckle.

“That’s what it used to seem like when I was a kid,” Cheryl admitted, “because she would treat him so amazingly, but me like I was worth nothing. And often, it was like he didn’t even notice. I couldn’t understand that. I think that’s always been the root of the problem between us. Even if it was Heather who finally drove the wedge in, it was already there anyway.”

Toni nodded slowly. “That’s rough. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted, sitting next to Toni again. “I’m sorry you had to face all that.”

“Eh. I’ve been through similar shit,” Toni reminded Cheryl, shrugging. “And I think you handled it great. I don’t know why Heather ever called you weak or whatever. You’re clearly not.”

Cheryl let out a breath. “Heather brought out the worst in me. The ugly.”

Toni nodded, her hand coming up to Cheryl’s cheek and landing there gently. “ _Nothing_ about you is ugly.”

Cheryl couldn’t even hold back as she pressed her lips back against Toni’s. She needed it. She needed Toni’s kiss, she needed to be close to her. She let herself get completely absorbed in it, leaning into the colorful haired girl so much that they tumbled over toward the pillows, and Cheryl heard Toni let out a little laugh. It made her heart skip a beat, but she pressed her lips back to Toni’s as quickly as she could.

Toni’s hands wrapped around, pulling Cheryl on top of her. Cheryl found herself half on Toni and half on her bed, their hair a mess around them. She propped herself up on one arm, her free hand on Toni’s shoulder, slipping under her Serpent jacket. She didn’t realize she was pushing it off of the girl until Toni shifted in order to help her slip it off.

It took some fumbling and little giggles, but they got the jacket off, and Cheryl, still on top of Toni, brought their lips together again and began to explore the other girl’s mouth with her tongue. Toni let out a little moan, her hands on Cheryl’s exposed waist and slipping up underneath the mesh shirt. Cheryl felt her skin almost burning at the touch, her heartrate picking up the more she felt it.

Her whole body was awake. She felt warmth gathering between her thighs, and she arched her back slightly as she pressed her chest into Toni’s slightly. Toni moaned again, and Cheryl could feel the vibrations against her lips, and she let out a small noise as well. Toni’s hands suddenly moved downward, past her waist and down to her ass, squeezing. Cheryl could feel wetness in between her legs.

Breathless, Cheryl pulled her mouth away from Toni’s. Their heavy breaths merged together as they searched each other’s eyes. “Damn Red,” Toni murmured. “You don’t waste any time.”

Cheryl let out a little laugh. “We probably… we shouldn’t…”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, “we should probably waste a little more time, first.”

“Probably.” Cheryl smiled, biting down on her lower lip. “But I can still kiss you.”

“Yeah, I’d definitely like some more of that,” Toni murmured, her hand coming up to suddenly pull Cheryl’s face down to meet hers in another kiss.

* * *

**Sweet Pea – Hey, was T with you earlier?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, she was with me. She just left to go to work.**

**Sweet Pea – Okay, good. Just got worried about her. She had Serpent rounds this morning, so we had early breakfast, and then she didn’t come back to the trailer after so I wanted to make sure she was okay. No one had seen her all day, but I figured I should ask you before I panicked.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, she came over here at noon. I guess right after her rounds.**

**Sweet Pea – Gotcha, cool. Thanks!**

**Cheryl – Of course. So… what are rounds exactly?**

**Sweet Pea – Usually just riding around the White Wyrm and other parts of Southside, looking for Ghoulies. We haven’t been finding many around recently, so it hasn’t been too bad to do rounds.**

**Cheryl – What happens when one of you does find one?**

**Sweet Pea – Sometimes, if it’s just one, revving up your engine and driving by will scare them off. Other times, you have to text the others on rounds and go up to them directly. The Ghoulies are dicks, but they’re also cowards, so there’s not usually much violence involved.**

**Cheryl – Still sounds pretty terrifying.**

**Sweet Pea – Look, I know what you’re thinking. Toni may be tiny, but she’s strong. And she doesn’t fuck around. She’s held her own against multiple Ghoulies before, and any times she hasn’t been able to, she’s had the Serpents with her.**

**Cheryl – I know. I know she can, I wouldn’t ever think otherwise. I’m just trying to understand the Serpents better. I want her to know that I care.**

**Sweet Pea – I think she knows, Red.**

**Sweet Pea – Not even Betty Cooper has integrated in with the Serpents as well as you. And you’re supposed to be some Northside Princess.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before.**

**Sweet Pea – Seriously, though, Red. Even Felicity warmed up to you already. That’s saying a lot.**

**Cheryl – Yeah… thanks, Sweet Pea.**

**Sweet Pea – Of course :) Also, I don’t know what exactly is going on between you and Toni, but one of you should probably tell Noah soon. I’m pretty sure he’s convinced he can seduce you.**

**Cheryl – Haha, he’s so sweet. I’ll make sure and let him down easy when I get the chance.**

**Sweet Pea – Good, good. Alright, I’ve gotta help my dad get something cooked for dinner. See you around, Red!**

**Cheryl – Yeah, see you around. :)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing Cheryl just texting Sweet Pea and them just talking. I've learned from both reading and writing that I love the Cheryl & Sweet Pea friendship. It's adorable haha. I hope you all liked this chapter.  
> I managed to do some relaxing today, as well as being productive, so that's good. But everything is just so stressful it's hard to do anything other than just worry. Hoping I'll be able to distract myself with writing this weekend <3  
> So, the next chapter will be up on Sunday. I haven't decided for sure if I'm doing a periscope this weekend, but we will see. Feel free to comment and feedback you have, or tweet at me at @BrittzandTana <3 Please stay safe and stay healthy, thank you all for joining me. I'll see you on Sunday <3


	17. some people ride till the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl decides to come out to a couple of people...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! I'm so sorry that this update is coming a little late. My girlfriend has bronchitis and went to the ER today to make sure she doesn't have pneumonia. I wasn't allowed to go in with her-they're only allowing patients in-so I was kind of freaking out all afternoon. Thankfully, she doesn't have pneumonia so hopefully her cough can be treated and her bronchitis will go away. It's just extra scary right now, obviously. Lots of things are up in the air. Oof.  
> Anyway, please enjoy this chapter <3

A few days passed where, because of school, Cheryl and Toni didn’t get a chance to see each other. Of course, that didn’t stop them from texting, and they’d even started occasionally talking on the phone, usually in the evening, and Toni would go on a walk around the trailer park so that she wouldn’t bother any of Sweet Pea’s family. Cheryl would lie in her bed and wish that Toni was there to talk to her in person. She knew it was pathetic that she was so upset at not seeing Toni for a few days, but she couldn’t help it. She was feeling lonely.

Of course, at school, she had Veronica and company. Lunches were spent with the school’s Core Four, as they had been starting to be called, ever since it was rumored that Veronica and Archie might be dating. The rumor was a few weeks old, but Veronica hadn’t said anything about it, and they didn’t appear to be dating, so Cheryl wasn’t necessarily convinced. Not that she cared. She barely considered any of them friends.

But it was Thursday at lunch that Cheryl was reminded of what Toni had said to her before, that perhaps the people Cheryl hardly considered as her friends were really there for her more than she’d realized.

“You haven’t made any appearances since spring break,” Veronica reminded Cheryl. “Some of the Vixens are worried that you don’t care about the social part of the team anymore.”

“Some of the Vixens?” Cheryl demanded. “Are you one of those, Veronica?”

Veronica sighed. “No, I’m not. And neither is Betty.” Betty nodded in agreement, and Cheryl just gave her a glance in response. “We know that things have been going on with you and Heather, and it’s thrown shit off for you. But it’s been almost two weeks since you were out at a party or with the group. And Heather’s been out plenty, so people are starting to think that they should side with her.”

“Why does there have to be sides?” Cheryl demanded.

“There doesn’t,” Betty answered, “but people don’t know that. You don’t talk to any of the Vixens.”

“Neither does Heather,” Cheryl snapped back.

Veronica shrugged. “She has been now.”

“Recruiting for a new ‘best friend’ to manipulate,” Cheryl muttered, taking a bite of her lunch. Veronica furrowed her eyebrows.

“What? Manipulate? What happened between you and Heather, Cher?” Veronica demanded. “I’m your friend. We’re your friends. You can talk to us.”

Cheryl looked around at the group. Archie wouldn’t tell anyone anyone’s secret, he was that nice guy kind of guy. Not to mention, he and Cheryl hardly knew each other. Jughead and Betty… they may not even be surprised by what she would have to say. But Veronica… she was nice, but could Cheryl really trust her with such a huge secret? “Look,” Cheryl said quietly, “I don’t want to talk about it where people might hear. Okay? After practice today.”

Betty and Veronica nodded, and Cheryl let out a breath. Was she really going to do this?

During the rest of her classes that day, she texted Toni trying to figure out how she was going to tell her friends what happened with her and Heather.

**Cheryl – I’ve somehow gotten myself into a situation. I’m supposed to meet Betty and Veronica after Vixens practice today to tell them what happened with me and Heather.**

**Toni – Oh yeah? What are you planning on saying?**

**Cheryl – I don’t know! I could stretch the truth and just leave out the part about the fact that I liked her, but I don’t know how I’d do that. I mean, I could figure it out, but. Maybe it’s not worth it.**

**Toni – Everyone coming out has to start somewhere. And if it makes you feel better, remember that you’ve already started it. Sweet Pea knows, and trust me, if anyone at Riverdale High is an asshole to you when you come out, I’m sure he will gather a Serpent army to come to your rescue. I’d help him of course. Not that I think you need it, but. We have your back, that’s what I’m trying to say.**

**Cheryl – So you think I should tell them?**

**Toni – I think they’re probably the best people to tell next, yeah. If you’re not comfortable with doing it, though, you don’t have to. You never have to do anything you’re not ready to do. Especially when it’s coming out.**

**Cheryl – Thanks… I think I’ll tell them. You’re right.**

**Toni – You’re welcome—you’ll have to think of a way to repay me for my excellent advice.**

**Cheryl – I’m sure I’ll think of a way.**

**Cheryl – When do you work this weekend?**

**Toni – Saturday and Sunday night.**

**Cheryl – Do you have Serpent rounds this weekend?**

**Toni – No… how do you know about rounds?**

**Cheryl – You and Sweet Pea have mentioned them before. I asked him about them last weekend. Anyway, so that means you’re free other than when you’re working?**

**Toni – Yep! When are you free?**

**Cheryl – Pretty much whenever. So I guess I can see you tomorrow night?**

**Toni – I’m all yours. ;)**

Vixens practice was a bit more intense than normal. Cheryl was a little on edge due to her slight anxiety about talking to Veronica and Betty about her fight with Heather, so she ended up pushing everyone a little harder on accident. Realizing this toward the end of practice, she dismissed everyone about ten minutes early and went to go shower.

By the time she was finished showering, Betty and Veronica were waiting by the locker room door, just chatting. As soon as they saw her, they stood up a little straighter. “Where do you wanna go?” Veronica asked.

They ended up in the school parking lot sitting in Cheryl’s car. The top was down, but no one was around. Cheryl sat on the edge of her car, her feet in her driver’s seat, and Veronica and Betty sat in the backseats. Cheryl let a breath out, looking down at her lap for a second.

“Okay,” Cheryl said slowly. “So. Before I can tell you what happened between me and Heather, you have to understand something else…. I had a crush on Heather. For most of the time we were friends.”

“Really?” Veronica asked in surprise. “I never noticed.”

Cheryl tried not to roll her eyes—of course she hadn’t noticed, Cheryl hadn’t wanted anyone to notice. She didn’t react though, and just continued speaking, “So, because of my feelings, I never noticed that my friendship with Heather was perhaps… kind of toxic.”

“You guys always seemed so close,” Betty said sadly, “but I guess we never saw you guys when you were alone together?”

Cheryl nodded. “Well, maybe she wasn’t even fully aware of how toxic it was. Considering that I didn’t voice any issues between us. Anyway. What really happened was that Heather began going to the Southside for parties, and of course I went with her. She met a guy there, Cody, who she really liked. Like always, since she was dating someone, we stopped hanging out as often. But she expected to me to be available whenever she needed someone. Then, she got dumped, and after I spent a whole day with her, I needed to be somewhere else. She got very angry that I didn’t spend the night at her house, and started to be convinced that I was hiding something from her.”

Realization came over Betty’s face all of the sudden. “And you were.”

Veronica looked at her in confusion. “What? How do you know?”

Cheryl sighed. “Well, I was. While she got with Cody, at those Southside parties, I started to make some friends on the Southside too…”

“Toni,” Betty said knowingly, “and… Sweet Pea?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, “well, mostly Toni, but yeah.”

“Toni,” Veronica repeated, “oh, yeah, we met her last Wednesday?”

Cheryl nodded. “I didn’t tell Heather I was hanging out with anyone on the Southside, partially because after she and Cody broke up, I knew she would be mad. But also… Toni found out that I liked Heather, and so she was the only one who knew. She helped me realize that I was, essentially, letting Heather walk all over me. And the more Heather realized that I wasn’t at her beck and call, the angrier she got at me.” Cheryl looked at Veronica. “After that party during Spring Break, when she said she had someone to go hook up with?”

Veronica nodded. “Yeah?”

“It was Jason. I had always asked her not to get with my brother, but she was mad at me, so she did it anyway. She did it to piss me off,” Cheryl explained, “and then we had a huge fight—the biggest fight we’ve ever had—and I accidentally let it slip that I had liked her. Thankfully, she had enough decency to not tell anyone. But she said some pretty horrible things to me during that fight, and I’m pretty sure our friendship is forever severed. Which is probably for the best.”

Veronica let out a breath. “I’m so sorry that happened, Cheryl. You should’ve told us, we would’ve had your back.”

“So, are you bisexual? Or…” Betty trailed off, clearly feeling uncomfortable about asking directly. But Cheryl didn’t blame her.

“I’m a lesbian,” Cheryl answered. Betty looked like she wanted to ask something else. “What?”

“You and Toni…”

Cheryl bit down on the inside of her lips. She hadn’t really planned on discussing Toni with Veronica and Betty during this conversation, but she should’ve suspected that Betty would’ve realized. After all, she’d seen them together the previous weekend. Cheryl simply nodded in response to Betty.

Veronica lit up suddenly. “Ooh, you two are dating?”

“We haven’t exactly talked about it,” Cheryl answered, fiddling with her fingers.

“Well still, that’s great!” Veronica exclaimed. “Well, then both of you should come to Reggie’s party tomorrow!”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “I already said earlier I wasn’t interested in that party.”

“But you can bring Toni!”

“Heather is going to be there, though,” Cheryl argued, “and I’m just not sure that’s a great idea, to bring Toni there.”

“Well fuck Heather,” Veronica exclaimed, surprising Cheryl with how quickly she sided with her. “She is clearly at fault here. Don’t let her stop you from taking your girl out and having fun.”

Cheryl felt a blush rise to her cheeks when Veronica referred to Toni as “her girl.” She didn’t feel like it was accurate to refer to her that way, but it did make her heart flutter a little. “Well,” Cheryl said, “I will ask Toni. But I make no promises about whether we’re actually going to go.”

Veronica grinned. “Awesome! Well, we’ll let you go then.” She and Betty climbed out of Cheryl’s car and then waved back at the redhead as they headed to Betty’s car across the lot. Cheryl returned the wave and then slid down into her driver’s seat. She didn’t feel like going home after that conversation, so she took out her phone.

**Cheryl – Are you busy?**

**Toni – Not really, did you just talk to Veronica and Betty?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, it went fine, but I don’t wanna go home.**

**Toni – Okay. Uh, Sweet Pea’s trailer is kinda busy right now, his dad is home and they’re making dinner and stuff. Do you wanna meet behind the Wyrm?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, okay :) I’ll be there in a bit.**

Cheryl started her car and set off toward the Southside. It was weird how automatic it felt now to drive to Sunnyside or the White Wyrm. And when she got there, and saw Toni’s motorcycle parked, she didn’t even feel that out of place. She got out of her car and put up the top, locking it and heading behind the building.

When she arrived at their spot, Toni was sitting on a crate, leaning backward against the wall, a lit joint in between her fingers. She looked up when Cheryl entered. “Hey,” she said brightly, “how’d it go with Betty and Veronica?”

“Good,” Cheryl answered, going to sit down on the other crate, which creaked as she sat down. “They’re both on my side about it, obviously. They honestly didn’t even seem that surprised that I’m gay either.”

“That’s good,” Toni said, tilting her head a little, “so why didn’t you wanna go home? Is something wrong?”

Cheryl shook her head. “No. Just… after I came out and talked about how I was hanging out on the Southside… Betty put two and two together. She asked about, um, you.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” Cheryl nodded. “Did that upset you?”

“No,” Cheryl answered. “But, Veronica invited you to come to Reggie’s party tomorrow night.”

“And that upset you?”

“Well, not the invite,” Cheryl answered, “but I’m just worried about if we went together… Heather will undoubtedly see us. I’m not sure I’m ready for another confrontation with her…”

Toni let out a breath. “You don’t want to go? Or you don’t want me to go with you?”

“I don’t want to go. But…”

“What?”

“Maybe we should. Veronica said that the other Vixens are starting to side with Heather, they don’t know what’s going on. Maybe going out could be a good idea. If nothing happens with Heather, then the Vixens will at least see that there’s no reason to pick sides. If some kind of confrontation does happen…”

“Then maybe they’ll realize she’s a manipulative bitch?” Toni asked.

Cheryl let out a quiet laugh. “Yeah…”

“Sorry,” Toni apologized.

“No, it’s okay. You’re right, she is,” Cheryl assured her. “Anyway. If you don’t want to go, we won’t go. But… I think I would like it if you were there.”

“Then I’ll be there,” Toni said, taking another hit. After she blew out the smoke, she added, “Should be… fun.” She offered the joint to Cheryl. “You want a hit?”

Cheryl took the joint, remembering the last time she tried it—it had relaxed her. Perhaps it was a good thing to have for the evening, after the conversation she’d just had with Betty and Veronica. She took a hit from it, holding the smoke in her mouth for a second and then blowing it out. A few seconds later, she took one more hit.

Toni laughed a little. “You good?”

Cheryl nodded, leaning over to hand the joint back to Toni as she let out the smoke. She deserved to relax, so why not let the weed help her out with it? As she sat back fully on the crate, she heard it creak again, and then suddenly the wood splintered and broke apart, and Cheryl screeched as she fell through the box and onto the ground, her ass landing in a pile of wood.

“Holy shit!” Toni exclaimed, some laughter coming out as well. “What the fuck?”

“Oh my god!” Cheryl exclaimed. “Ow! What the—” Toni was cracking up now, and Cheryl gave her a glare. “It’s not funny!”

“Oh my—are you okay?” Toni asked, barely understandable through her laughter.

“No,” Cheryl snapped, though a laugh was starting to bubble its way up out of her too. She pulled herself into a standing position, wiping sawdust off of her ass. Toni’s laughter was dying down a little.

“Are you okay?” she asked again with a more level voice.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, letting out a gentle laugh. “How come my crate had to break?”

Toni grinned. “I guess mine’s just sturdier. C’mon, you wanna share it with me?” Toni put out her joint and put it into a little bag that she put into her pocket. She didn’t move over on the small crate, though, so Cheryl had no idea how she expected it to be shared. Toni must’ve noticed her confusion, because she suddenly patted her lap, lifting an eyebrow.

Cheryl hesitated, but then she stepped closer to Toni and carefully lowered herself onto Toni’s lap, facing her. Their faces were inches apart.

“Is that better?” Toni asked quietly.

“You’re so tiny,” Cheryl said, “are you sure I’m not crushing you?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with going to the party tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Toni assured her, “and I can’t wait for the weed to calm you down. Stop stressing about it.” Toni’s hands came to Cheryl’s shoulders.

Cheryl let out a little laugh. “Sorry… maybe I’m more worried about it than I thought.”

“It’s going to be okay, alright?”

Cheryl nodded, and then pressed her lips softly to Toni’s, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl’s waist. She instantly got lost in the kiss, and neither of them noticed the creaking below them, and then suddenly, the crate splintered and fell apart, and they crashed into the ground, Cheryl on top of Toni, and they both screeched as they fell.

“Oh my god!” Toni exclaimed.

Cheryl rolled off of Toni onto the ground, coughing from the sawdust around them. “Now you know how it feels,” Cheryl said, laughing a little.

“You were on top of me, though!”

“And who’s fault is that?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow and sitting up.

Toni laughed, shaking her head. “I guess we’ll have to figure out a new sitting situation in here.”

“Guess so,” Cheryl answered. Toni sat up, kicking away the broken pieces, and leaned against the wall next to Cheryl. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered with a chuckle, leaning against the redhead. Cheryl felt her heartrate pickup as Toni relaxed against her. “That was just a little shocking.”

“You sure I didn’t crush you?” Cheryl teased.

“I’m sure,” Toni responded, chuckling. Her head was resting against Cheryl’s shoulder, her hand resting lazily on Cheryl’s leg. They sat there in silence for a while, Cheryl’s hand resting on top of Toni’s. Cheryl was definitely starting to feel the relaxing effects of the weed. It was so peaceful, sitting here in a pile of sawdust, curled up next to Toni. It was so easy to forget her troubles.

After some amount of time, Toni pulled her hand out from under Cheryl’s to stretch her arm. It was pretty close to dark out by now, and Cheryl knew that she should get home so she could eat dinner. But she’d rather spend the night with Toni—not that there was a place for her to do that.

“We should probably both get home,” Toni murmured, relaxing her arms again.

“I know.”

Neither of them moved, and Toni let out a chuckle. “C’mon, Red. You should get home, and so should I. We need to eat dinner and we both have school tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, and they finally stood up. Cheryl kicked at a piece of splintered wood and sighed. “We’re gonna have to clean this up.”

“Later,” Toni insisted, taking Cheryl’s hand, “let’s go.”

She led them out of the hole, which they promptly blocked up again, and then started back toward the Wyrm, hand in hand. Cheryl loved the way it felt—Toni’s warm, soft hand holding onto hers. She felt safe. She always felt safe when she was with Toni.

They got to Cheryl’s car and Toni’s motorcycle, and Cheryl gave Toni a gentle smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow. At Reggie’s.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed. “You’ll have to send me the address.”

“I will.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye.”

They exchanged one quick peck on the lips, and then were off their separate ways. Alone, Cheryl was left to think about the following evening and all the ways it could go, bad and good. The weed was still keeping her a little bit relaxed, but perhaps most of her calm had been induced by Toni herself. Toni was perhaps becoming her drug, and she didn’t even mind it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl came out to Betty and Veronica!! Woo! What do y'all think the party is gonna be like?  
> I'm really going to try super hard to work a lot on the Toni POV of this story this week! Fingers crossed I can get a lot done! Everything is insane so it's hard to keep my mind on one thing for an extended period of time, but hopefully I'll make some progress.  
> Sorry I didn't do a Periscope today. Perhaps next weekend, if anyone is actually interested. <3  
> I will see you all later this week <3 Please feel free to comment or follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana ! <3 Please stay safe and healthy friends!


	18. take the good stuff, honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni go to Reggie Mantle's party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry this update is coming out a bit late today. I've had a cold the past couple of days, and haven't been feeling great, oof. Not to mention, life is just crazy right now.  
> Enjoy this chapter <3

“I’m so excited for you to be finally going to another party, Cher!” Veronica exclaimed as they left Vixens practice. Betty was off to meet up with Jughead before they too headed to Reggie’s, so it was just Veronica and Cheryl. They’d agreed to carpool, Veronica driving them, so they just needed to go stop at Veronica’s and Cheryl’s houses before heading for Reggie’s. “You can finally show the Vixens that everything is fine.”

“Or, things will go terribly and they’ll learn more about the fight between me and Heather, and they’ll start to actually pick sides,” Cheryl muttered.

“How many of them do you think would realistically pick Heather’s side?”

“However many heard the story from her first,” Cheryl answered. “She’s manipulative, she’s good at making people agree with her. It’s like you and Betty have said before. We’re both such strong personalities, it’s weird that we were best friends. The only reason we were able to do that was because I was always giving way for her. If we clashed, I pulled away. She got her way, always. And I didn’t even notice it was hurting me, because I was so obsessed with her.”

Veronica sighed. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, Cher. You’re worth way more than that, and it’s not your fault that you didn’t notice. She was taking advantage of you. And you’ve got yourself someone now anyway. Right?”

“Well… we haven’t really talked about it. Toni and I.”

“But she agreed to come to the party with you.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, “but we haven’t really talked about… exclusivity. Or what exactly our relationship is. Or any of that. It’s all been sort of… slow.”

“That makes sense,” Veronica reasoned. “You just got over liking Heather. And she helped you get through that, right? So neither of you can expect you to just be ready to jump into something with Toni, right?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I haven’t really been thinking about it very much.”

“Well, what do you want the relationship between you and Toni to be?” Veronica questioned. Cheryl shrugged again, and Veronica rolled her eyes. “You like her, right?” Cheryl nodded. It felt so weird to be talking to Veronica about this. She wasn’t used to talking to her about anything personal, especially when it came to relationships or _liking_ people. “So, you want it to go somewhere?”

“Of course I do,” Cheryl answered incredulously. “Just… we haven’t talked about it.”

“Wow, I’ve never heard you sounding so nervous before,” Veronica teased with a grin.

“Oh, shut up.”

They drove from the school to Veronica’s house, stopping and going in so that she could drop off her stuff and change into a more party appropriate outfit. Then they headed to Thornhill so that Cheryl could do the same thing. Up in Cheryl’s bedroom, Veronica sat down on Cheryl’s bed and waited as the redhead went through her clothes.

“Has she been here?” Veronica asked out of nowhere.

Cheryl knew who she was talking about, but she still said, “Who?”

“Toni,” Veronica clarified, “she’s from the Southside, right? Has she been here?”

“Yeah.”

“Has she met your parents?”

“My mother, unfortunately. And Jason.”

Veronica hummed in understanding. “Does Jason know about… your sexuality?”

“No,” Cheryl answered. “You and Betty are the first ones I’ve told. Well, aside from Toni and her friend Sweet Pea… and Heather.”

“Gotcha… well, I’m sure no one will really care when you tell them.” Cheryl nodded. “So what are you worried about?”

Cheryl let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not really worried about anything in specific. We just haven’t talked about it.”

“Fair enough,” Veronica said with a nod. “So, what are you going to wear for your first public outing with Toni?”

“It’s not our first public outing.”

“Whatever!”

Cheryl hummed thoughtfully, grabbing out her mesh crop top, some skinny jeans, and her leather jacket. “Let me put this on and fix up my lipstick and then I’ll be ready to go.” Veronica nodded, and Cheryl disappeared into her bathroom to dress and fix her makeup. Once she was ready, she left the bathroom, and she and Veronica headed out for the party. As they left Thornhill, they saw Jason about to get into his car.

“You guys going to Reggie’s party?” he called.

“Yes,” Cheryl answered, “and I assume you’re going with Heather?”

Jason shrugged. “We’re meeting there.”

“Well, I guess we’ll see you there.”

Veronica and Cheryl chatted on the drive over to Reggie’s, but Cheryl knew that she was quieting the closer they got. She was getting a bit nervous about the whole night. Veronica seemed to notice that she was checking out some, because she stopped trying to talk to Cheryl, and silence took over the car. Cheryl took the opportunity to text Toni.

**Cheryl – Veronica and I are almost to the party.**

**Toni – I’m about to leave so I’ll probably be there a little after you.**

**Cheryl – Okay.**

**Toni – You’re stressed again, aren’t you?**

**Cheryl – Maybe.**

**Toni – Don’t worry about it, seriously. I’ve got your back. And just FYI, I’m not going to be drinking, since I’m driving my motorcycle.**

**Cheryl – That’s good, so responsible.**

**Toni – You know it ;)**

**Toni – Seriously, calm down. It’ll be fine. And we can leave whenever you want to. It is kinda weird thinking that you’re more nervous to go to a Northside party than me, and I’m the one who’s literally never been to one.**

**Cheryl – I know, I’m overreacting.**

**Toni – Maybe, but it’s justified.**

They pulled up to Reggie’s party, parking a little down the street, and Cheryl let out a long breath. “Alright, let’s do this.”

“Is Toni here?”

“No, she’s on her way.”

The first part of the party was pretty typical. Cheryl and Veronica sought out the alcohol and then met up with Betty and Jughead. She noticed Jason had arrived around the time she had, and shortly after, she saw him with Heather. The blonde made eye contact with Cheryl for a second, and practically rolled her eyes as she looked away. Cheryl didn’t let it bother her.

It was twenty minutes after they got there that Cheryl’s phone buzzed again.

**Toni – Just pulled up down the street, I’ll be there in a second.**

Cheryl’s heart was beating faster, slightly out of anticipation, but partially out of worry as well. She turned to Veronica, Betty, and Jughead and took in a breath. “Toni’s here,” she said.

“Oh cool, I didn’t know she was coming,” Jughead said. Cheryl couldn’t help but remember for a brief moment that Jughead and Toni had once almost hooked up, but she quickly pushed it out of her brain, because she knew it meant nothing. Plus, there were bigger things to worry about right now. Cheryl just nodded and tried to keep herself from stressing too much.

“I’m gonna go meet her at the front of the house,” Cheryl said, “see you guys in a few.” She parted from the group and headed to the front of Reggie’s house, just in time to see Toni open the front door and step inside. It was like time slowed as she walked in. She was wearing torn up jeans with fishnets underneath, a dark purple tank top, and her serpent jacket. Her hair fell in long waves around her, and she walked with confidence that Cheryl had never realized, until now, was extremely attractive.

Toni’s entrance definitely drew a few eyes, because the only Serpent most Riverdale High students ever saw was Jughead. Toni glanced around for a moment until her gaze landed on Cheryl. “Hey,” she greeted, ignoring the looks she was getting and walking over to the redhead, “this place is… packed. But big, so.”

Cheryl chuckled. “Yeah. Did you find it okay?”

“Hard to miss a house with like twenty fancy cars parked outside it,” Toni joked. “Is there something I can drink around here that’s not alcohol?” Her heart pounding, Cheryl reached for Toni’s hand. The Serpent took it, and Cheryl guided her to where the drinks were, alcoholic and not. Toni got herself a coke, and then they started back into the party area.

“I told Veronica, Betty, and Jughead we’d meet back up with them,” Cheryl told her. Toni nodded, squeezing Cheryl’s hand reassuringly, and they went to find the group.

“Hey!” Veronica greeted brightly as they approached. “Nice to see you again, Toni.”

“You too,” Toni said with a smile. “Hey Jug, hey Betty.”

“Hey Toni,” Jughead said, “didn’t expect to see you at a Northside party.”

“Well,” Toni said with a shrug, glancing at Cheryl, “I came at Cheryl’s request.” She squeezed Cheryl’s hand again, and Cheryl was beginning to wonder how Toni was able to tell when she was nervous.

Jughead seemed to notice their hands linked, and he nodded. “Cool. Gotta say, it’s nothing like the Sunnyside bonfires.”

“I’ve heard of these bonfires,” Veronica said, “but I’ve never had the privilege of going to one.”

“Not sure you would really fit in there,” Jughead teased.

Betty shrugged. “Cheryl’s seeming to do just fine lately.” Cheryl felt her cheeks redden a little.

“The thing is, most Southsiders don’t hate Northsiders on principle, like everyone thinks,” Toni reasoned. “Unless, I guess, you’re talking about all the football players and shit. And some Serpents are definitely weary.”

“Like Felicity,” Cheryl offered up, “I swear she didn’t stop glaring at me at the bonfire we started.”

Toni shrugged. “She’s a bit of a hard ass. She likes you now, though, so that’s what counts.”

“I really can’t picture Cheryl Blossom hanging out on the southside,” Veronica admitted. “Although, I am loving this look on you. The sexy, edgy look.”

“She was inspired my wardrobe, apparently,” Toni said with a little smirk.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “It’s not my fault that you have good style.”

“No, it’s not,” Toni agreed.

“You not drinking, Toni?” Veronica wondered.

Toni shook her head. “I’m driving home, so I figured better to stay away from any alcohol tonight.”

“I’m driving too,” Veronica said, “so I’m just doing one or two beers.”

“Yeah, but you don’t live across town,” Jughead countered, and Toni nodded in agreement.

“Well, drinks or not, we can still have fun!” Veronica exclaimed. “Let’s go dance!” She grabbed Betty and Cheryl’s and started to pull them toward where the music was coming from, and Toni and Jughead followed by default.

They got all mixed up into the group of sweaty teenagers doing some sort of “dancing” to the loud music. Cheryl and Toni ended up facing each other, trying to dance as well, but mostly just swaying in the midst of everything. Toni’s hands were on Cheryl’s shoulders. “You’re still tense,” she said.

“Yeah, well…”

“Heather’s here somewhere,” Toni said knowingly. Cheryl nodded. “Come on, I know what’ll help.” Toni was suddenly guiding Cheryl through the house, and Cheryl had no idea how she even knew where she was going. They reached the door to the backyard and slipped out. Some people were scattered around the area, most of them doing what Toni was apparently wanting to do, because the Serpent pulled out a joint and her lighter. “You want?”

Cheryl took the joint from Toni before it was lit, and the Serpent leaned forward to light it as Cheryl brought it up to her lips. She took a long hit from it, and then handed it to Toni, who did the same.

They stood out there in silence, smoking for a couple of minutes, before Toni gave Cheryl a small smile and asked, “Better?” Cheryl nodded, and Toni put out the joint and slipped it away. And as they walked into the house again, Cheryl spotted Jason out of the corner of her eye, so she quickly pulled Toni inside and toward the mass of people. “Whoa, what’s up?”

“Just… I saw Jason,” Cheryl admitted.

“Ignore him,” Toni insisted. “You like dancing at these parties?” Cheryl nodded. “Okay, then let’s dance, Bombshell.”

Cheryl felt her cheeks redden, but she let Toni pull her toward the dance area and they started dancing together. It was easy to forget her worries when Toni was shimmying and dancing all silly, deliberately trying to distract her. Cheryl heard herself laughing more than once at Toni’s dancing, and she hardly noticed the weird looks she and Toni kept getting.

That is, she didn’t notice them until a particular voice interrupted her moment of escape. “Wow, this is a surprising scene. Cheryl Blossom, hanging out with some Serpent scum.” It was like Heather cleared the area around Cheryl and Toni with just her voice, because when they turned to look at her, there was a circle cleared around them.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than bother me, Heather?” Cheryl snapped. “I was pretty sure you had no interest in talking to me anyway.”

“Yeah, well, that was before I realized the new company you’re keeping. I’ve gotta say, I thought you’d replace me with someone with more… I don’t know. Class?”

“Hey, watch who you’re talking about,” Toni snapped.

“Or what, you gonna cut me, bitch?” Heather snapped back. A round of oohs could be heard around them, and Cheryl clenched her jaw.

“ _Don’t_ even talk to Toni, Heather,” Cheryl snapped, “she didn’t replace you. Why would I want anyone to take up your manipulation and the horrible way you treated me?”

“Oh come on, _little cherry_ , why don’t you admit what’s really going on here?” Heather demanded. “Your new outfit… your new company… what is this, Cheryl? Are you already having a midlife crisis? Looking to die young? You can’t pretend to be someone that you aren’t. We all know what a Northside princess you are. Associating with this low-life trash isn’t going to change what you were born as.”

“Shut _up_!” Cheryl exclaimed. “Why don’t _you_ admit that you’re an asshole who manipulated me for years? Who expected me to be there for you, no matter what was going on in my life. Who couldn’t let me have one or two things for myself? You always needed to be the center of my world, and as soon as you weren’t anymore, you did everything you could to hurt me! Well guess what, I’m _happy_ without you.”

“Liar!” Heather growled. “You’ll never be happy without me. I _know_ you Cheryl. And I know that you need me, because I make you stronger, because you’re weak. You _need_ me.”

“She doesn’t need you,” Toni snapped, taking a step closer to Heather. “She’s not weak, she’s strong without you. And you don’t know her. Not anymore. You lost any right to know her after you manipulated her, and took advantage of her. And I swear to god, I care about her _way_ more than you ever could. So do us all a favor, and stay the fuck away from her, alright?”

Jughead, Veronica, and Betty were here now, standing around Toni and Cheryl and facing Heather. Jason was standing near Heather, but his mouth was agape, and clearly he was not necessarily backing her. “You know what, I remember you, _Toni_ ,” Heather said. “You were at that bonfire that I dragged Cheryl to. The only reason you two even _know each other_ , is because of me. Am I wrong? No. If you’re the new good in her life, you can’t forget that it’s because of _me_.”

“Well, I guess that’s the only good you’ve ever done,” Toni said with conviction, her tone final.

Heather looked at Cheryl, shaking her head. “Not a replacement? She fights your battles for you, just like you always had me fight them.”

“She’s not fighting it for me,” Cheryl snapped, “she’s backing me up. The one thing you never would’ve done for me. Now get out of our faces, you absolute hag.”

“Whatever.” Heather spun around, looking at Jason. “Let’s go, Jason.”

“I’m good,” he said, shaking his head. “Sorry, H, you’re on your own.”

“Excuse me?” Heather snapped at him. “You’re picking her side?”

“That’s my sister you’re talking about,” Jason reminded her, taking a step closer to her. “And I don’t care what drama happened between you two, you don’t get to talk to her like that.”

“You know what? This is what I get for associating with Blossoms. You’re all lying pieces of shit who only care about yourselves,” Heather growled, looking back at Toni. “You better watch your back, Serpent. That girl was born without a caring bone in her body.” Before anyone could say anything back to her, Heather turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. A few people were still giving Toni and Cheryl weird looks, but for the most part, the party seemed to resume as normal.

“You guys okay?” Veronica asked. They nodded. “Damn, I knew you were worried about that happening, Cher, but I’ve gotta admit. I didn’t think she’d go that hard.”

“Hey,” Jason said, coming up to them, “I’m sorry…”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Cheryl told him, “you don’t need to apologize for anything.”

“Well… okay. Do you want me to do anything?”

Cheryl shook her head.

“Do you need anything from us?” Betty asked, gesturing to her, Jughead, and Veronica.

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I just… maybe I wanna get out of here.”

Veronica nodded. “Okay, you wanna head out now?”

“Oh, I can take her,” Toni interrupted, “you should stay and enjoy the party, Veronica.”

“Alright,” Veronica said. “Well… if you need anything, Cher, just let me know.” Cheryl nodded, and then Toni grabbed her hand, and they excused themselves.

Cheryl felt checked out of reality. The past hour felt like a blur of a mix of anxiety and thrill, and she didn’t even know how to feel in this moment. What she’d been worried about happening had happened, but it hadn’t gone as awfully as she’d expected.

Toni walked her down the street to her motorcycle, and they stopped. “Hey, are you okay?” Toni asked.

“I’m okay,” Cheryl answered, “just… I don’t know. I think I’m just overwhelmed.”

“Where do you wanna go? Home?” Cheryl shook her head. “Sunnyside? Noah is home right now… I don’t know… we could go to the park?” Cheryl shook her head. “Okay, well where, then?”

Cheryl thought for a second. “Could we go to the drive-in? We can stop by Sunnyside and get those blankets and things that I never took back home?”

“Of course,” Toni answered, nodding, “yeah, of course.” She climbed onto the motorcycle, grabbing her helmet and then reached for the bike’s bag to pull out the extra. “Here.”

Cheryl clipped on the helmet and then got on behind Toni, wrapping her arms around her tightly. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on Toni’s back as the Serpent tugged on her own helmet. Toni revved the engine as she turned on the bike, and then they started moving. The wind began whipping through Cheryl’s hair, and Toni’s hair whipped around as well. Cheryl could smell that familiar vanilla scent, and it was comforting, and so was just being so close to Toni. Cheryl could feel her own heart beating in her chest, against Toni’s back. She didn’t even notice how fast they were going or anything, all she could think about was how calming this was.

When they got to Sunnyside, Toni drove up to Sweet Pea’s trailer and pulled to a stop. Cheryl sat up and released Toni’s middle. “So, I’m gonna have to stuff those blankets in a bag and you’re gonna have to hold onto it during the drive, is that okay?” Cheryl nodded. “Alright, I’ll go grab it real quick.” So Cheryl sat on Toni’s bike, balancing it with her feet on either side, while Toni hurried inside. She came back out with the blankets in an old messenger bag. It was stuffed very full. “I managed to fit one of the pillows too.”

“That’s very impressive,” Cheryl said with a small smile.

Toni smiled proudly, winking at her. “I try.”

Cheryl held onto the bag as they drove to the Twilight Drive-In. Toni parked her motorcycle on the other side of the lot than the first time they’d gone there, the side with the hole in the fence, so no climbing was required. They squeezed through the hole and Cheryl brought the bag of blankets over to the same truck they’d sat in last time, while Toni went to go start a movie.

Cheryl opened up the bag and pulled out one pillow, putting it up against the back windows of the truck, and spread one blanket on the bed of the truck. As she pulled out the second blanket, a couple of beer bottles rolled out as well, and just as they did, a movie flickered onto the screen. Cheryl glanced over toward the projection box, and Toni was headed over to her.

“Beers?”

“I figured you hadn’t had enough to drink at the party,” Toni joked. “Sweet Pea was in the trailer, he said we could take them. I thought you’d maybe want something to drink after tonight.”

Cheryl smiled. “Thanks, Toni.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Toni answered with a smile. She climbed up onto the truck bed. “I love what you’ve done with the place.”

Cheryl chuckled. “Thanks. I guess I have good interior design skills?”

“Definitely,” Toni answered. They sat down on the blanket, spreading the other one over them, and Cheryl popped open a beer. They sat close together, curling up against each other, and started watching the movie that was playing. A few minutes into it, Toni asked, “Do you wanna talk about what happened?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, “we should.”

“You still feeling overwhelmed?”

Cheryl shrugged, leaning her head on Toni’s shoulder and letting her eyes fall closed for a minute. “Not as much, no. This is really… peaceful.” Toni didn’t say anything, but Cheryl felt her soft hand landing on her leg, rubbing her thumb calmingly on it. She just waited for Cheryl to talk, and that made Cheryl’s heart warm. She’d never felt so… understood. “I’m not surprised that she approached us. But… it actually went better than I expected. I defended myself, all my… my friends were there. Even Jason didn’t side with her…. And you, Toni…” Cheryl sat up, eyes opening and looking directly at the Serpent, who turned to look back at her. “No one has ever stood up for me like that. I really appreciate it.”

Toni smiled softly. “Of course. You deserve it, Cheryl. You deserve to have someone standing up for you like that.” Cheryl felt tears filling her eyes. “Not that you need someone to do it. She’s wrong you know? You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “How can that be true? I have it so much easier than pretty much everyone you grew up knowing.”

“It’s not about that,” Toni insisted, her voice quiet. “Come on, would I lie to you?” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, I know I don’t have the best track record, but that was only once. Would I lie to you _now_?”

“No.”

“That’s right,” Toni confirmed. Cheryl gave her a small smile, lifting her beer to her lips and taking a drink. She then set it down next to her on the truck bed, and looked back at Toni, whose eyes were still trained on her. “You’re beautiful.”

Cheryl felt warmth come to her cheeks. “Thank you.” She lowered her gaze to Toni’s lips for a moment, then back up to her dark eyes. Cheryl took in a breath, lifting her right hand and touching it gently to Toni’s cheek. “Where did you come from? How did I get lucky enough to meet you?”

Toni chuckled. “I don’t think that’s what you were thinking when you did meet me.” Cheryl let out a little laugh as well.

“No. It wasn’t.”

“And by the way, for the record, if you want me to send any Serpents to scare Heather….” Toni trailed off, a smile coming to her face, and Cheryl knew that she was joking. Cheryl smiled and shook her head, leaning toward Toni and pressing her lips to hers softly.

Toni leaned into Cheryl’s touch, deepening their kiss. They forgot about the movie playing instantly, and Cheryl’s dragged down from Toni’s face to her midsection. She slipped her hands underneath Toni’s shirt, and Toni’s hand rubbed against the mesh fabric of Cheryl’s crop top. Toni let out a little murmur against Cheryl’s lips, and the redhead pulled apart to mumbled, “Huh?”

“Did I tell you how sexy you look in that outfit?”

Cheryl moaned, grabbing Toni’s jacket and pulling her closer, connecting their lips again. She leaned against the pillow, pulling Toni slightly on top of her. Toni’s hands grabbed at her boobs, and Cheryl could feel Toni’s touch on her skin slightly through the mesh. She desperately wanted to feel it more.

She grabbed Toni’s hands and directed them underneath the top, and Toni gladly followed the guidance, humming contently. Toni pulled her lips away from Cheryl’s, her hands squeezing Cheryl’s boobs over her bra. “God, Cheryl,” she murmured.

Cheryl just pulled Toni back down again, desperate for her kiss. For her touch. They made out there on the truck bed, hands all over each other and lips exploring lips, jawlines, and necks. Cheryl had no idea how long they were there for, and they would’ve been for longer if it weren’t for them causing the truck bed to shake at some point, and Cheryl’s beer bottle toppled over, beer immediately seeping into the blanket and Cheryl’s clothes.

“Oh my god!” Cheryl squealed, sitting up quickly and causing Toni to fall on her ass next to her. Cheryl looked down at her soaked bra and the top of her pants. “I’m covered in beer!”

“Shit, I forgot that was there,” Toni said apologetically. “Damn. We can’t even just clean this up, I don’t have anything we can use…”

Cheryl sighed. “Yeah… I need to shower.”

“So… I guess it’s back to Thornhill?” Toni asked, and Cheryl could hear the disappointment in her voice. Cheryl nodded, and they stood up on the truck bed.

“We can just leave all this stuff,” Cheryl said, “and come clean it up later or something. It’s going to be a pain to take it all back too.”

“I have a feeling that you’re never getting these blankets back,” Toni said with a chuckle, grabbing the empty messenger bag and tossing the one unopened beer back into it. “Come on, Bombshell. Let’s get you home.”

The ride back to Thornhill was less enjoyable than the ride after the party, because Cheryl’s pants and top were wet, which made the wind against her feel cold. She made sure to cling to Toni the whole way, trying to absorb her body heat. At least, that was her convenient excuse.

When they pulled up to Thornhill, Cheryl was pleased to see that there were no cars in the driveway. As she climbed off of the bike, Toni gave her a small smile. “Well… I guess we have to call it a night, now?”

Cheryl frowned, and then she gave Toni a hopeful look. “Come inside?”

“Are you sure?”

“Please?”

So Toni turned off her bike, taking off her helmet and setting it on the seat. Cheryl took off her helmet as well, and then they headed into the huge home. “No one seems to be home,” she said. “So, no one will barge in, I promise.”

Toni smirked. “That’s good.”

Cheryl grabbed Toni’s hand and pulled her upstairs and to her room, which she made sure to lock the door of. Once they were in their, Toni set the messenger bag down on the bed and sat there. “Are you gonna be okay to wait out here while I shower?” Cheryl asked.

“Of course. Is it okay if I have this beer?”

Cheryl smiled and nodded, knowing that if Toni was having a beer, that she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.

Cheryl found herself in the shower, soaping up and trying not to think about the fact that she was entirely naked, and Toni was just in the other room. She’d never showered so quickly, especially considering how horny she was feeling. She very quickly got out of the shower, dried and dressed herself into some shorts and a thin tank top, and dried her hair as best as she could.

Her hair still a little wet, but hanging all around her in damp strands, she left her bathroom and came back into her room to find Toni, her shoes off, laying on Cheryl’s bed on her phone. The half empty beer bottle sat on the nightstand. Toni’s eyes turned up to look at Cheryl as soon as she stepped out into the room. “All clean?” Toni asked with a small smile.

“All clean,” Cheryl confirmed, coming over to the bed and climbing onto it next to Toni. “What are you up to?”

“You know, organizing all the Serpents to go storm Heather’s house tomorrow,” Toni joked. She locked her phone and set it on Cheryl’s nightstand. “How are you doing now? I know showers can make people feel all… reflective and shit.”

Cheryl took a breath, nodding slowly. “Honestly… I’m feeling… sufficiently distracted,” Cheryl decided, leaning a little toward Toni. “I don’t think _I_ told _you_ how _hot_ you look tonight…” Toni lifted an eyebrow, her lips partly slightly as if to say something, but before she could, Cheryl sealed their lips in a kiss. Toni was instantly kissing her back, her hands tangling into damp red hair as Cheryl pressed closer to the Serpent.

Toni’s hand came to Cheryl’s hip, pulling her body so that Cheryl was partially on top of her. Cheryl hummed contentedly as Toni slid her hand underneath Cheryl’s tank top, up toward her otherwise uncovered boobs. As her fingers began to dance against the underside of her boobs, Toni murmured against her lips, “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Cheryl whispered back, reveling in the feeling of Toni’s hands grabbing her bare boobs underneath her shirt. Her nipples hardened, and Toni’s fingers toyed with them. Cheryl let out a quiet moan, her free hand on Toni’s hip, the pads of her fingers pressed into a bit of Toni’s exposed skin. She slid it around so that the palm of her hand pressed to Toni’s lower back. Toni’s hands did the same thing, reaching around to Cheryl’s back, and then suddenly she rolled them over.

In a single breath, Cheryl was lying flat on her bed, Toni on top of her. She hardly had time to realize her new position before Toni was pressing their lips together again. “God, Cheryl,” Toni murmured against them, “you are so fucking sexy.”

Cheryl moaned deeply, her hips thrusting slightly as she felt wetness pooling between her thighs. She began to push off Toni’s jacket, and the Serpent suddenly sat up, straddling Cheryl, to slip it off. Cheryl looked up at the girl on top of her, her mess of colorful hair and her beautiful face. Cheryl had once looked at her and thought only rude things—things that Cheryl couldn’t hardly recall, things she would never think now. No, now she only saw the beauty, the rough-around-the-edges, but sweet, strong, talented beauty that was Toni Topaz.

Now just in her dark purple tank top and her ripped up jeans, Toni tilted her head. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” Cheryl answered obviously. “Now come kiss me.”

Toni grinned, leaning down again to do just that. Cheryl slipped her hands underneath Toni’s top, finding Toni’s boobs and squeezing them firmly. Toni moaned, and her thigh slid in between Cheryl’s, pressing into her center. Cheryl gasped at the slight friction, her hips bucking slightly.

Toni began to peel off Cheryl’s top, and Cheryl sat up slightly to let her do so. When she was topless, Toni took a moment to just look at her, and then the Serpent let out a quiet moan and ducked down to press her lips to Cheryl’s boobs. She pressed her tongue flat over her nipple, and Cheryl’s breathing picked up even faster than before. She could hardly pay attention to anything as Toni kissed all over her boobs, those soft but strong hands on her abs.

Then, with a surge of confidence, she found herself grabbing at Toni’s shirt, pulling it up and causing it to bunch around Toni’s chest. The Serpent chuckled, sitting up to pull off the shirt, as well as the bralette that Cheryl had already been messing around under. Cheryl looked up at Toni’s naked upper body, a sigh escaping her body. “You’re… flawless, Toni.”

Toni chuckled, her hand dragging through some of Cheryl’s still damp hair. “You don’t believe that.”

“I do.”

“How? You’ve witness multiple of my flaws.”

“They only make you more… perfect.”

Toni was definitely blushing as she bit her lower lip. “You trying to smooth talk me, Bombshell?”

A small smile came to Cheryl’s lips. “Is it working?”

“Definitely…” Toni’s thumbs swept over the soft skin on Cheryl’s stomach, and then the Serpent let out a little sigh as her gaze dropped.

“But?” Cheryl asked.

Toni looked back at Cheryl’s eyes. “I… don’t want us to go too fast. This is all new to you… and I really like you, Cheryl. I don’t… I don’t want to fuck this up.” Cheryl nodded, she understood. And honestly, as much as she wanted to keep going right now with Toni, she figured that this wasn’t the best time for it, after feeling so overwhelmed from the party earlier. Toni deserved better than that. “So… maybe I should go.”

That, though, made Cheryl frown. “You had a beer.”

“Just one,” Toni said with a shrug, “I’ll be okay.” Toni started to get off of Cheryl, but the redhead quickly grabbed her wrist, gentle but firm.

“Wait,” she whispered, “please stay?”

Toni met her eyes. “Are you sure?” Cheryl nodded, and a small smile came to Toni’s lips. “Okay. But that means we need to eat something, because I haven’t had dinner, and I doubt you have either.”

Cheryl felt a smile come to her face. “Well, then let’s get dressed and order some pizza?”

“Sounds good to me.”

So they got up and put their clothes back on. Cheryl watched as Toni pulled her tank top back on, without the bralette this time, and couldn’t wait for the next time she could get the Serpent topless. It was a gorgeous sight, one that she couldn’t get out of her head.

They ordered pizza, and Cheryl went and got it when it arrived, and they holed up in Cheryl’s room eating it late into the night. They talked about surface level things, like school and what Toni was doing in her art class now that they were wrapping up photography. When they finished their pizza, they shoved the empty box onto the floor and sprawled across Cheryl’s bed, both staring up at her ceiling.

“Thanks for the pizza,” Toni said.

Cheryl laughed a little. “You don’t have to thank me. Thanks for keeping me company… and for agreeing to stay tonight.” Toni turned onto her side, propping herself up on her arm and looking at Cheryl, who shifted her gaze to the side to see the girl. “What?”

“Are you still doing okay?” Toni asked softly.

Cheryl nodded. “I’m… better than okay. I’m happy, Toni.” She smiled. “We made it through tonight, and I’m happy that it’s over with.”

Toni smiled gently. “But… everything with Heather isn’t over with? Is it?”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Cheryl asked with a little laugh. “No, I’m sure it’s not, but…”

“But?”

Cheryl propped herself up too, facing Toni directly. “But, I don’t care right now. Not when you’re here with me… you make me feel safe, Toni.”

“Me, a Serpent, making you feel safe?” Toni teased. Cheryl rolled her eyes, leaning forward to press her lips against Toni’s softly. Toni smiled into the kiss, climbing on top of Cheryl, who had basically forgotten all of the drama that had happened earlier. Being here with Toni, this what exactly what she needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave any comments, or tweet at me @BrittzandTana <3 Sorry for no long notes today :( I'll see you all on Sunday!


	19. i needed to lose you to find me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is noticing her pull to Toni a lot more now that she's been able to act on it. However, she doesn't get to see Toni much over the weekend, but she does have a sit down chat with her twin. Then coming back to school on Monday, she's faced with a few more stares than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, friends! I'm sorry it's so late. Today... was super weird. I mentioned on Thursday that I had a cold - unfortunately, I still do :( I would say today was probably the last day of it, though. I'm expecting to have some remaining symptoms over the next few days, because that's usually how colds go for me, but thankfully about half of my symptoms have cleared up and the rest have been getting a bit better throughout today! Hooray!  
> But because I wasn't feeling the greatest earlier today, after I had breakfast this morning at like 11AM, I took a shower, and then proceeded to take a 3 hour nap... and then I procrastinated making dinner and shit... and now I've been cramming for an exam that I have to take tomorrow at 11:30AM, eek! Thankfully, I feel mostly ready for it! This at-home school stuff is going to be pretty wild, though...  
> Anyway!! That's my mini life update! Now without further ado, enjoy this chapter!!

Cheryl woke up with her arms wrapped around something. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she tried to move her arms, only to find them being pulled tighter around the thing, no, the _person_ they were wrapped around, who she was spooning. She inhaled deeply, smelling the scent of vanilla mixed with… a smell that was just Toni.

“Toni?” she murmured.

“Shh,” Toni hushed her, her voice low, “I’m sleeping.”

Cheryl heard herself chuckle. “You’re talking.”

“Sleep talking.”

“What time is it?”

“Don’t care.”

Cheryl smiled, burying her face into Toni’s hair. She was content to go back to sleep, in all honesty. She almost did too, until, a few minutes later, Toni’s phone began to buzz from the nightstand. “Ugh,” Toni groaned, “I don’t wanna answer it.”

“So don’t,” Cheryl murmured, tightening her hold on the smaller girl.

Toni laughed breathily. “I thought you were trying to be responsible.”

“I’m not the one who has anything to do today,” Cheryl countered. Toni hummed, but then she was pulling out of Cheryl’s hold. Cheryl finally opened her eyes, rubbing them before she focused them on Toni, who was grabbing her phone and answering the call it had been buzzing about.

“Hey, Sweets, what’s up?” Toni asked, her voice sleepy. “Oh shit, no… I didn’t think to text you, sorry. Um, I’m at Cheryl’s. No—shut up. What? That’s not fair, I’m not supposed to this weekend, and I work tonight. Wait, that’s not—ugh, are you with him? Can you put him on the phone? Okay, okay, fine, never mind. Yeah. See you in a bit. I don’t know, I’ll text you when I’m on my way.”

She hung up the call, and Cheryl was already frowning. “What was that about?”

Toni turned to look at Cheryl, her expression apologetic. “Sweet Pea just started his rounds, and apparently Jughead can’t make do his today. I don’t know why, but whatever it is, he needs me to cover for him. FP said I’m the only one who can do it with the schedule.”

“So, you have to go now?”

Toni nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted, sitting up and stretching her arms.

“Really?”

Cheryl tilted her head. “Of course. I know you have Serpent duties and stuff. Just…”

“What?” Toni asked.

“I was going to say be safe, but I know that you always are,” Cheryl told her with a small smile. Toni returned the smile, looking a little surprised at the comment.

“I am,” she confirmed. “Can I get ready real quick in your bathroom? I really need to head out like, now.”

“Of course.”

Toni gave her an appreciative smile and then hopped up off of the bed and hurried into the bathroom. Cheryl let out a breath, laying on her back and looking up at the ceiling. She was a little upset that Toni already had to go, but she had greatly appreciated the whole previous evening. She needed to make sure to thank Toni for it again sometime later.

For now, she climbed out of bed as well and began to get ready for the day.

* * *

After Cheryl walked Toni out of Thornhill, stealing a kiss goodbye, she headed into the kitchen to make herself from breakfast. Feeling a bit perkier than normal, she decided to make some eggs and bacon. She actually felt happy enough that she was sure any of her family walking in and bothering her would hardly put a dent in her mood.

Thankfully, the family member that did end up walking into the kitchen as she finished up cooking breakfast was Jason. He looked a little worse for wear, probably hungover from Reggie’s party. “Good morning,” Cheryl chirped. “You want some eggs and bacon?”

Jason nodded, walking past her to pour himself a glass of water. Once he had taken a drink, he looked a little more composed, and he said, “What’s got you so chipper this morning?”

“I guess it’s because I left the party early and didn’t get wasted,” Cheryl answered with a shrug. She started making two plates of breakfast, then handed one to her brother.

Jason accepted the plate and let out a breath. “Hey, about the party and everything… I really am sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything last night, Jason,” Cheryl insisted.

He shook his head. “No, but that’s not just what I’m talking about. I mean for all of it. For getting with Heather, for keeping it up while you two weren’t talking anymore. I had no idea what was going on. After seeing her talk to you like that last night… I get it, what you were warning me about. And I should’ve trusted you. We maybe have not been close the past few years, but you’re my sister. And I still believe that Heather is the root cause of us not being close since middle school.”

Cheryl was surprised by the apology and the admission from her twin. He set his breakfast down at the breakfast table, but kept looking at her waiting for a response. She let out a breath, and went over and set her plate across from his. “Thank you, JJ. That means a lot. I don’t blame you, though. Heather is manipulative, and you’ve always liked her. And I mean, I can’t really blame you for that.”

They sat down at the breakfast table, and though the conversation seemed over, Cheryl felt a slight tension hanging in the air still. She didn’t know what Jason wanted to ask her, but it was obvious that he wanted to say something. Finally, about halfway through their silent meal, he said, “Can I… can I ask you about what you and Heather were fighting about?”

Cheryl pursed her lips together for a moment, and the nodded.

“It sounded like… well, Heather was talking about how you _replaced_ her with your friend… that Serpent girl, what’s her name? Toni?” Cheryl nodded. “And I got home last night at almost one in the morning… and that motorcycle was still here… so, she stayed the night?”

“She did,” Cheryl answered. “Just ask me what you want to know, Jason.”

“You and Toni… you two are dating? You’re into girls?”

“Yes.”

Jason nodded slowly. “So… you and Heather?”

Cheryl should’ve known this was coming. She sighed before admitting the truth, “I had a crush on her for a long time. It’s why I didn’t want you two to date. The more I accepted the truth about it, the more I started seeing the toxicity in our friendship. Where I was letting up so that she could have her way. It wasn’t healthy for me, and Toni helped me see that. And by the time I finally got over my crush, Heather and I were already falling apart as friends anyway, because I was developing my own life, separate from her. And she couldn’t handle that.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason apologized again, and Cheryl just shrugged. “I just have one more question.”

“Okay.”

“So… did you love her? Heather?”

Cheryl blinked in surprise. Had she loved Heather? As a friend, of course, but that’s not what Jason was asking. Had Cheryl been in love with her best friend? She’d never said those words, or even really thought them. She thought about her feelings for Heather, when they had existed. No, she wouldn’t call it love. Infatuation, obsession, yes, but love? “No,” Cheryl answered, “as a friend, of course, but any more than that? No… I feel like love has to be mutual to be real anyway. Right?”

Jason’s mouth turned into a small smile. “Wow, Cher. I didn’t realize you’d gotten all wise.” Cheryl laughed a little, taking another bite of her food. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Of course, JJ. Thank you for this talk. I think we needed it.”

Jason smiled. “Me too.”

* * *

The rest of Cheryl’s weekend was spent doing homework and keeping busy. Toni worked most of Saturday through the evening, and had ended up sleeping in quite a bit on Sunday morning to accommodate how busy she’d been the day before. Unfortunately for Cheryl, that meant that she didn’t get to see the Serpent at all on Sunday.

Other than her conversation with Jason, nothing super eventful happened during the weekend. Veronica texted to check up on her, which was sweet, but Cheryl was happy to stay at Thornhill if she wasn’t going to be with Toni. After Friday night, she didn’t think she needed anymore public outings.

Sunday night, though, Cheryl found herself missing Toni. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to going a few days without seeing Toni, and she’d literally seen her the previous morning. But it felt different now, and she _needed_ Toni. She _craved_ her. Her touch, her kiss, her voice, her smile, her laugh. Everything about her, Cheryl needed.

So at ten-thirty, when she was sure Toni must be off of work, Cheryl sat on her bed and called her.

“Hey,” Toni chimed curiously as she answered, “everything okay?”

Cheryl leaned back against her pillows. “Yeah, I just didn’t get to see you today, so I figured I could at least call you. How was work?”

“It was okay,” Toni answered. “Let’s get back to the part where you were missing me?”

Cheryl smiled to herself, rolling her eyes a little. “Well, I’ll admit. You’ve been on my mind a lot. Actually, I can’t get you out of it.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Toni teased. “How was your day?”

“Uneventful,” Cheryl answered, “I just did homework, mostly. I thought I needed a break after Friday, but unfortunately, I got bored.”

Toni chuckled. “Well, next time you’re bored, you can always swing by the Wyrm.” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. She hadn’t even considered doing that.

“I wouldn’t be bothering you?”

“No,” Toni insisted, then adding teasingly, “You just might have to buy a beer so it doesn’t look suspicious.” Cheryl chuckled a little. “So, you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… still getting used to figuring out how to spend my time.”

“Heather used to occupy a lot of your time,” Toni reasoned for her.

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed.

Toni let out a breath. “Well, don’t let yourself get bored next time.”

“Okay.”

Toni laughed. “So, what are you up to, Bombshell? Just curled up in bed calling me?”

“Maybe,” Cheryl answered, a smile tugging at her mouth. “I wish you were here. When are you free this week?”

“Well, this week is kind of weird. I’m working Monday, Wednesday, and Friday pretty much all day after school, because on Saturday morning, I’m helping Felicity pack up and move. It’s a whole big thing that Sweets told me about this morning. You’re welcome to come to that,” Toni said.

“Alright, I will,” Cheryl agreed, “what about Saturday night and Sunday? Are you moving into the trailer this weekend?”

“Well, that’s the plan for Sunday. I’m working Monday and Wednesday so I don’t have to work Saturday or Sunday. Saturday night, Felicity is having a Serpents going away at the Wyrm. Apparently, the Serpents actually have a ritual like goodbye party thing for when Serpents move away, which doesn’t happen often. Unfortunately, that’s Serpents only,” Toni explained. “So I won’t be free Saturday night.”

“Okay,” Cheryl said with a nod. “Okay, and then on Sunday, you’re moving into Fangs’ trailer?”

“Yep. You wanna help with that?” Toni asked.

“Definitely. Are you excited to have your own space again?” Cheryl wondered.

“Beyond excited,” Toni answered. “Going to have my own bed again, and I’ll only be sharing a bathroom with one guy instead of three of vastly different ages.”

“Will you let me decorate your room?”

Toni chuckled. “Are you going to paint it red and bring me a bunch of creepy Victorian looking decorations?”

“Of course not!” Cheryl answered with a scoff. “You’ll have executive veto powers. I just have a feeling that it’s been a while since you got to have a well-decorated space, and I happen to really enjoy decorating.”

“Okay, you can decorate my new room,” Toni agreed.

Cheryl grinned. “Yay!” She relaxed further into her pillows. “Okay well, sounds like I at least get to see you some this week and this weekend.”

“And I told you, you can always come to the Wyrm if you’re feeling lonely,” Toni reminded her, bringing a soft smile to Cheryl’s face.

“Right. You’re really sweet, Toni.”

“Shh, don’t tell anyone,” Toni teased. “You should get some sleep, Cheryl. And I should too. Work was tiring again. I don’t know what it is about early April, everyone wants to come get drunk at the Wyrm apparently.”

Cheryl chuckled. “Okay. Well. I guess I might see you tomorrow, but if not, I can expect to see you Tuesday?”

“Definitely.”

“Good. Have a good night, Toni.”

“You too, Bombshell.”

Cheryl hung up the call, and then let out a long breath. She plugged her phone in next to her bed and climbed underneath her covers, thinking about two nights ago, when she’d been curled up with Toni. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was cuddling with Toni instead of lying all alone, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Cheryl walked into Riverdale High on Monday morning, feeling no different than any other typical day. She knew that she should be expecting some drama coming from Heather, but she didn’t know exactly what to expect, so she didn’t worry too much about it. She’d spent her time getting ready that morning texting Toni, which left her in a good mood. She walked in wearing her three inch red heels, black high waisted skinny jeans, and a red blouse. She topped it off with her leather jacket, starting to really like wearing it.

She was used to having people eye her as she walked through the halls of Riverdale High, after all, she was the head cheerleader and part of the former most powerful duo of the school. Especially since all of this drama started, people tended to glance her way when she passed by.

But this morning was different.

Everyone looked at her as she walked through the main hallway, and when she made eye contact with them, they would turn away quickly and whisper something to their friends. Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows, ignoring the looks and heading straight for Veronica’s locker, even though it wasn’t close to her own.

“Veronica,” she said firmly, walking up to the girl, who didn’t look surprised to see her.

“Cheryl, hey.”

“What is going on?” Cheryl demanded, voice quieter now. “I have no problem with attention, but this is ridiculous.”

Veronica sighed. “Okay, stay calm. Don’t freak out, but… Heather went full rage mode yesterday. She texted all of the Vixens and the Bulldogs, telling them to spread the news, and—”

“What news?” Cheryl snapped.

“That you’re dating a Serpent who…” She trailed off, but Cheryl knew where it was going.

“A Serpent who what?” she asked anyway.

Veronica looked at her for a second, clearly not wanting to have to admit what happened. “A Serpent who’s a girl.”

Cheryl huffed in frustration. “So she outed me?”

“I don’t think she was thinking of it that way,” Veronica admitted, “she wanted to ‘expose’ you for dating someone from the Southside. It just so happens that she mentioned that it’s a girl. Right? I mean, she didn’t out you when she found out before?”

“I hadn’t told anyone else here, though!” Cheryl exclaimed.

“I know, Cher,” Veronica said, clearly trying to talk her down, “but you went to the party with Toni on Friday. Wasn’t that sort of a coming out?”

Cheryl clenched her jaw. “I guess, but this is still fucked up. Why would she do that?”

“There’s no excuse that’s good enough,” Veronica agreed. “I’m sorry, Cheryl. The best we can do is talk down the Vixens.”

“But they all hate me now, don’t they?” Cheryl snapped. “If they don’t because I’m gay, they do because I’m dating someone on the Southside! Which is a ridiculous thing to be judgmental about!”

Veronica sighed. “Cheryl, I know this is terrible, and I’m really sorry. But try not to lash out, okay? That’s what Heather wants. If you freak out at the Vixens, they’re all going to side with her.”

“Whatever,” Cheryl snapped, turning around and walking away.

“Cheryl! Wait!”

Cheryl ignored her and headed for her locker, after grabbing her things, she started toward her first period, and texted Toni.

**Cheryl – You won’t believe what Heather did.**

**Toni – Oh no. What?**

**Cheryl – She told EVERYONE that you and I are dating.**

**Toni – Shit… like, literally everyone?**

**Cheryl – She told the Vixens and the Bulldogs, and told them all to spread the word, and with the number of looks I’m getting today, I’m sure pretty much everyone at RH knows.**

**Toni – I’m so sorry, Cheryl. Are you gonna make it through today?**

**Cheryl – I have to. If I cave, Heather wins. But as Veronica pointed out, if I attack, Heather still wins. I don’t know what to do. I’m not the kind of person to retreat, but I’m also not the kind of person to stand by while everyone gawks at me.**

**Toni – So, it sounds like you’re the kind of person who attacks?**

**Cheryl – I guess so, yeah. But how can I go after Heather for this without everyone hating me even more?**

**Toni – You don’t have to go right after Heather to attack back. Just stand up for yourself. Shut them up. You’re badass, Cheryl, you can get them to leave you alone. I know you can.**

**Cheryl – That’s a good idea actually.**

**Toni – Is that you being surprised I had a good idea?**

**Cheryl – No, sorry. I’m just stressed about all of this. I really appreciate your advice, thank you. I’m going to first period, I’ll let you know what happens if anything happens.**

**Toni – Okay, good luck! You got this, Bombshell.**

**Cheryl – Thanks, I hope you’re right.**

Cheryl didn’t make any advancements in deciding what to do about Heather or anything in her classes, but at the same time, she was hardly able to focus. She couldn’t ignore the stares for much longer, she knew. She hated knowing that the attention was all negative, judgment about something these people knew nothing about. They had no right to judge her.

What she hated the most, she realized, though, is that if something had been said like this about a Vixen a few months ago, before Cheryl had met Toni, she would be the one judging. Cheryl would’ve never seen the reasoning in dating someone from the Southside. And yet here she was, hating the judgment she would’ve been giving.

Her mind was working on overtime as she walked to the cafeteria. She didn’t feel hungry or like socializing. She sat at her usual table, and Veronica and Betty asked how she was doing. She shrugged it off, and Jughead said something nice about how they had her back. She gave him a slight nod, and then attempted to eat despite her lack of appetite.

She glanced around the cafeteria, at all the people glancing at her. She suddenly made eye contact with Heather, who smirked at her and then turned to the Vixens. They all snickered together in their little group, and Cheryl felt rage in her chest. She didn’t realize she was shaking her leg until Veronica gently touched her shoulder. She asked if Cheryl was okay.

Cheryl didn’t answer, and suddenly found herself standing up. Veronica grabbed her arm, saying something about not going over to Heather, but Cheryl wasn’t planning on it. She stepped out of her seat and then stepped up on top of it, then up onto the cafeteria table.

Finally, she heard Veronica’s question, “Cheryl, what on Earth are you doing?”

“Hey!” Cheryl shouted, and anyone who wasn’t already looking at her turned their gazes her way. “Listen up Vixens, Bulldogs, and all other Riverdale High losers. This weekend, you all heard a rumor about me—that I’m dating someone who lives on the Southside. Well, I’m here to tell you all that it’s true!”

The entire cafeteria was silent, and they all started exchanging confused looks. Heather, in particular, looked confused and angry at the same time.

“All you imbeciles, giving me those judgmental stares… they mean nothing to me. They do mean something about you. That you are superficial assholes who think that you’re better than people living on the other side of some train tracks! In reality, those people are working ten times harder to have a tenth of the things that you all have. And you can judge me all you want, but it doesn’t change that the real horrible thing that’s been done here is that my former _best friend_ tried to hurt me by telling _all of you_ about my personal life.”

Cheryl met Heather’s eyes.

“But she can’t hurt me anymore. None of you can. So get the _hell_ over it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little cliffhanger there, but not too bad, right? Heather is a real bitch, but it's kind of easy to see how Cheryl would've been in the same mindset as Heather a few months ago... our lil Cher is maturing! :3  
> So, as soon as I'm back in the swing of school - and I've figured out how to pace my work and whatnot, since I'm going to be doing all of it from my apartment for the rest of the semester lol - I am planning on finally doing another Periscope. I might tweet out a poll to see when people are free to watch it, so follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana! I know I kept saying I would do one over my extended spring break, but things got kinda crazy. But now I'm home, it's just me and my girlfriend at my apartment, and I know I'm going to have a ton of free time while I'm not actively doing school haha. Hopefully now that I'm in my own space, I'll also finally get some motivation to write some more!!  
> Alright, it's now just about midnight here, and I still need to do some more exam cramming before bed. So, I will see you all on Thursday with the next update <3 xx


	20. like you wanted it forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl handles the aftermath of her lunch room drama, and spends the week looking forward to getting to spend quality time with Toni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends!! I know it's super late, it's barely even Thursday still (it's not for a lot of you I'm sure) and I'm sorry about that :c BUT! I do think that this chapter will more than make up for me being a bit late. This chapter is over 8,000 words! That's about double (if not more) the length of one of my usual chapters! Reading it back, I think I left it so big because I knew where I wanted it to end, and I just ended up having so much happen between where it had to start and where I wanted it to end, so it just got hella long. I'm sure none of you guys are complaining, though ;)  
> Without further ado, please enjoy chapter 20 <3

“Miss Blossom,” Principal Weatherbee said, sitting at his desk, looking across it at where Cheryl sat. “Would you like to explain what happened today?”

Cheryl crossed her arms over her chest. “You mean how my former best friend, Heather Wright, texted everyone at school to announce something about my personal life without any regard for my feelings?”

The principal let out a tired exhale. “No, Miss Blossom. I’m talking about the lunch room.”

“Oh, you mean when I was rightfully sticking up for myself?”

“Miss Blossom, it is against school rules to stand up on the lunch table to do anything, especially if it involves saying some of the _language_ that you said.”

Cheryl raised her eyebrows, sitting up a little straighter. “What? _Asshole_? _Hell_? This is ridiculous, Principal Weatherbee. Heather is the one at fault here. Did you see how all of those imbeciles were staring at me? All day. How can you expect me to focus on classes while that’s happening?”

“I understand, Miss Blossom, but what Miss Wright did was not done with any school utilities or even on school grounds. I can’t punish her for texting people,” he responded.

“Well, then just don’t punish me!” Cheryl exclaimed. “I’m an A plus student, and I’m head of the Vixens. Let me off with a warning.”

“Miss Blossom—”

Cheryl stood up from her seat. “I see no reason for you to punish me over defending myself, Principal Weatherbee. It will not happen again, but it needed to happen this one time. Good day, Principal.”

She turned on her heel and exited the office. She was a bit shaken up after getting angry at lunch and then being dragged to the principal’s office during her last period. Technically, there was still over half an hour of school left, but Cheryl saw no point in staying, and even less of a point in holding a Vixens practice. She didn’t want a fight.

So she sent a quick text to all of the Vixens.

**Cheryl – Vixens, practice today is canceled. Consider it time off to correct your behavior today. If I see any of those looks you were giving me after today, I will take that as indication that you don’t believe that I am doing a good job as head cheerleader, and I will make sure to rectify that by increasing the level of difficulty of our regular practices for the rest of the year.**

She then texted the coach.

**Cheryl – As you no doubt know, I was pulled out of class this afternoon to speak with Principal Weatherbee, and was dismissed from school for the rest of the day. I have already alerted the Vixens that practice will be canceled this afternoon.**

Smiling, Cheryl went to her locker, grabbed her things, and left Riverdale High for the day. Despite the drama of the day, she was in a pretty good mood. Feeling bold, she took down the top of her Chevy Impala, got in the driver’s seat, and took off toward the Southside.

She hadn’t ever been to Southside High, but it was pretty easy to find. They were minutes from dismissal, so she parked her car and grabbed her phone.

**Cheryl – What time do you work today?**

**Toni – In about an hour, why?**

**Cheryl – I have a lot to tell you. I’m outside. X**

She put her phone down and leaned back in her seat, looking at the doors to the school. Just a minute later, they busted open, and high schoolers began pouring out of them. A lot of them looked like they could be part of a gang, but few of them wore Serpent jackets. She wondered how many high school students really were part of the Serpents. It didn’t seem like many, judging by how many people were coming out of the building without leather jackets adorning snakes.

A few people gave Cheryl weird looks, but she just ignored them. Then, she saw Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Toni walk out of the building together, all with their hands in the pockets of the jackets. Sweet Pea seemed to be the first to notice where Cheryl’s car was, and he nodded toward it, and Fangs and Toni both looked over at her.

Fangs said something that Cheryl couldn’t hear and smirked, nudging Toni, who rolled her eyes. She turned to say something toward them as she took steps backward toward the car, and then waved at them both and then turned to finish the walk over to Cheryl. “Hey,” Toni said, hands still in her pockets, “are we going somewhere?”

Cheryl shrugged. “You only have an hour, and I know your bike is here, so we don’t have to. Just, like I said, I have a lot to tell you. So get in?”

Toni got into the car. “You’re drawing lots of eyes here.”

“Well after today, I’m definitely used to it,” Cheryl said, looking at Toni and trying to read her expression. “Are you mad that I came here?”

“No,” Toni answered. “Maybe we should just drive somewhere else, though. I heard some Ghoulies talking shit, and they’re the guys you have to worry about over here.”

So they drove out of the Southside High parking lot and parked by the Twilight Drive-In, which was not too far away. The Southside was pretty small anyway, so it wasn’t too hard to stay nearby. Once they were parked, Cheryl turned to look at Toni and let out a breath. “So, I took your advice about defending myself rather than attacking Heather.”

“Okay, what does that mean? What’d you do?” Toni wondered, eyebrows knit.

“Well, I didn’t have time to make a plan before I caught Heather snickering at me all haughty, and that really pissed me off, so… I stood on top of a lunch table and basically chewed everyone in the cafeteria out,” Cheryl admitted.

Toni’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? What’d you say?”

“I confirmed what Heather said about me, and told them off,” Cheryl answered.

Toni shook her head a little in disbelief. “Damn, Bombshell. That’s brave. You didn’t get in trouble?”

“Principal Weatherbee summoned me in last period,” Cheryl explained, “but I’m not worried about him. He can’t get me in trouble, the Vixens would be in shambles if he did. Plus, this is the first time I’ve made an infraction, so I’m sure he’ll let me off easy. After he refused to do anything about Heather, I insisted that he not punish me, and I walked out.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “And you think that’ll work?”

“It will,” Cheryl assured her. “I’m a Blossom, Toni.”

“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten,” Toni said. “I’m proud of you for sticking up for yourself. Even if your conversation with the principal does make you sound kinda entitled.”

Cheryl frowned. “I didn’t do anything wrong. He was mostly mad because I called everyone assholes and I said hell. But I was really upset, Toni. You didn’t see how Heather looked at me, how she got all of the Vixens to _laugh_ at me. Most people at Riverdale High forget that they can hurt me, but Heather _knows_ that I can be hurt. But I won’t let any of them hurt me anymore.”

“You’re right… I’m sorry,” Toni apologized, looking between Cheryl’s eyes for a moment. “Sometimes when you bounce from being upset to being so strong again, I forget for a second all the other stuff. You’re too good at hiding your emotions.”

Cheryl smiled softly. “I don’t want to hide from you, Toni. But also, you’re one to talk about being good at hiding your emotions.”

“What do you mean?” Toni asked. “I’m an open book.”

“You act like an open book,” Cheryl corrected, “but the pages you show aren’t always the truth.” Toni furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “You’re always acting so strong. I remember when… you told me that your parents used your babysitting money for drugs, that it was for the best that they’re in jail. And you were so unfazed by getting locked out by your uncle, by having to break in and take your stuff back. You’ve had to grow up so fast, and every last piece of your childhood has been stolen from you. You act like it doesn’t bother you… but it does. You’re just afraid to show it to anyone.”

“Where I’m from, Cheryl, you can’t afford to show it to anyone. You get back up and keep going, the _second_ you’re knocked down,” Toni said with a surprisingly level voice.

“That’s how it is where I’m from too,” Cheryl reminded her. “That’s why you and I are so good at hiding how we feel.” Cheryl lifted her hand and touched Toni’s face, her thumb gently stroking her cheek. “You don’t have to hide from me, Toni. I can be here for you too, you know that. I’ve seen you crack before, that night at the Wyrm. I’ve seen past your mask, Toni.”

Toni finally let a smile appear on her face. “I know.”

“Good.”

“And I’m sorry,” she added, “about the ‘entitled’ comment. I didn’t mean to be like those other people, who forget that you have emotions and that you can be hurt. Obviously, I know you can be hurt, and I want to be there for you when someone hurts you. Well, really I want to fight anyone who hurts you, but I won’t do that without asking first.” She smiled a teasing smile as she said that, and Cheryl smiled back.

“I think we should give Heather one more chance to stop being terrible before I let you risk yourself to fight her,” Cheryl teased.

“It wouldn’t be a risk, I could take her easily,” Toni insisted.

Cheryl chuckled. “I know.” She leaned over the center console, and pulled Toni’s face to hers, pressing their lips together. Toni kissed her back immediately, her hand coming to Cheryl’s neck. The touch felt electric, and Cheryl hummed happily into the kiss and the touch. After a few moments, Toni pulled back slightly.

“We shouldn’t get distracted, I have to work soon,” Toni murmured.

“I know,” Cheryl whispered, “I wish we could get distracted.”

“Me too,” Toni agreed, “you’re my favorite distraction.”

Cheryl grinned. “So do I need to get you back to Southside High?”

“Unfortunately, that’s probably a good idea.”

“Okay,” Cheryl whispered, “let’s get you back then.”

* * *

After one of the weirdest Mondays that Cheryl had ever had, the rest of the week was thankfully uneventful.

Tuesday was the worst of the next four days, because there were still people giving her side eye looks, but for the most part, people seemed to be over the drama. Except, of course, for Heather, who had approached her before Vixens practice in the locker room.

“Didn’t Weatherbee talk to you yesterday? You should’ve been suspended for yesterday,” she’d snapped at Cheryl.

Cheryl had rolled her eyes and answered, “Weatherbee had enough sense to realize that what I did was an emotionally driven response that won’t happen again. You tried to hurt me Heather, but you failed. And whatever you try next time will be even more of a failure. I promise you that.”

“You think I care that much about you to go after you _again_? You aren’t worth that to me.”

Cheryl had actually laughed at that. “Great, then leave me alone.”

That had been the end of that conversation, and the Vixens had all behaved perfectly during practice. No one said anything rude to Cheryl or gave her a rude look. It seemed like Cheryl had won.

The rest of the week backed up that as well, because Heather backed off, and Vixens practice was continuously uneventful. Cheryl found herself actually engaging in conversation with Veronica, Betty, Jughead, and Archie at lunch. When she wasn’t at school, she texted a lot with Toni as she worked on homework. She and Toni were both trying to get all of their homework done before the weekend to accommodate how busy it was going to be. That, on top of Vixens practice and the fact that Toni worked on Wednesday meant that the two of them didn’t get to see each other on her off days after all.

On Friday, Cheryl was relieved that the week was almost over. She just had to finish getting through the school day, and then she could relax and spend at least some of the weekend with Toni.

She headed to the cafeteria for lunch, hoping for an easy rest of the day, and sat down at her usual table with Veronica, Betty, Jughead, and Archie. “Hey, Cher,” Veronica greeted, “ready for the weekend?”

“So ready,” Cheryl agreed.

“Are you going to be at Fangs’ tomorrow?” Jughead asked her, as Cheryl opened up her lunch.

“Yep.”

“What’s at Fangs’ tomorrow?” Archie wondered curiously.

“His sister is packing up to move,” Jughead answered.

“Toni is going to be moving in there on Sunday,” Cheryl offered up, and Jughead nodded again.

“Oh that’s cool. She’s moving out from her parents?” Veronica asked. Jughead met Cheryl’s gaze knowingly, and it was the first time that she ever got the feeling that, perhaps, the two of them were sort of friends. They both knew a lot about Toni, since he’d been friends with her for quite a while. And that, at least, was where they shared common ground.

“She’s actually been crashing at her friend Sweet Pea’s for a little while,” Cheryl answered. “She used to live with her uncle, but it wasn’t working out.”

“So, her parents…?”

“Made bad decisions and left her with her shitty uncle,” Jughead summed up simply.

“Gotcha, sorry for asking,” Veronica apologized, glancing between the two of them.

“It’s okay,” Cheryl said with a shrug. “I’m going to help her decorate the new room on Sunday, but I haven’t gotten the chance to go shopping yet.”

“Ooh! Let me go with you! I haven’t had something to decorate in so long!” Veronica exclaimed.

“We can go tomorrow in the afternoon?” Cheryl suggested. “Toni is going to be at the White Wyrm.”

“Working?” Archie asked.

Betty was the one to answer first, “No, the Serpents are throwing a goodbye party for Felicity. It’s _Serpents only_.”

“Oh, well then do you wanna join us shopping, B?” Veronica asked.

“Sure, if that’s cool,” Betty answered, glancing at Cheryl, who nodded. This was the first time she’d had plans with both Betty and Veronica that weren’t Vixens related. It felt kind of nice to know that she had something to do for Saturday afternoon, too, since Toni would be occupied.

“I’ll make sure to let you know how the going away party is,” Jughead said to his girlfriend. “Honestly, I’m not even sure what’s happening at it. Apparently there’s some sort of ritual sending off that the Serpents used to do. But we haven’t had any Serpents move out of Riverdale in a long time. A few runaways, sure, but like actually going on to lead a different life? That hasn’t happened in a while.”

“So when you go off to college, they’ll do the same for you?” Archie asked Jughead, who nodded.

“I’d assume so. We don’t get many Serpents going off to college. I mean, there aren’t many high schoolers even in the Serpents. I can count them on two hands,” Jughead said.

“You,” Cheryl started, “Toni, Sweet Pea, Fangs, Joaquin… Cody?”

“Yeah, and a couple of Cody’s friends,” Jughead answered. “And Joaquin is actually a sophomore, and Cody and his buddies are seniors. And that’s the most the Serpents have had in years at one time.”

“It’s kind of weird, seeing Cheryl in with the Serpents,” Veronica commented teasingly. “Not the group anyone would’ve predicted you’d join.”

Cheryl felt her cheeks redden. “Well, I wouldn’t have predicted it either. But I didn’t know much about the Southside or the Serpents until Toni and I started talking. And… well, let’s just say I wasn’t very friendly to Toni the first couple of times that I met her.”

Jughead snickered. “You should’ve heard the first time Toni told me that you and her had been hanging out. I could hardly believe it.”

“And then you told her a bunch of stuff about me,” Cheryl snapped at him, not really mad but remembering when Toni was mentioning that she’d talked about her to Jughead. He held up his hands in defense.

“Only because she was asking,” he answered. “That was what, during spring break? I’d seen you at the party that week, and then she told me that you’d been meeting up and I was shocked. She did ask a lot of questions, though. I should’ve known she was into you.”

Cheryl blushed a little. It felt pretty weird to be talking about this with her friends, especially since Jughead had almost hooked up with Toni once. She hated that she still remembered that sometimes when he was around, but at least she had the self-control to keep from getting jealous. “So, how long have you two been sneaking around for anyway?” Veronica wondered.

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows, counting in her head. She didn’t know when to start counting from, so she decided to count from the first time she met Toni, because that was a bit easier. “I think a little over two months ago is when we first met,” she answered.

“So a few weeks before spring break?” Jughead asked, which Cheryl nodded in response to. “Wow. You guys didn’t seem all that close then.”

“I wouldn’t say we were even very friendly until a week or two into when we started talking,” Cheryl admitted. “She offered to be a listening ear… so I could talk to someone about Heather.”

Archie lifted an eyebrow. “That seems weird. You two started talking about Heather, and now you’re dating?” Cheryl shrugged.

“I think it’s adorable,” Veronica said with a grin. “I’d really like to keep getting to know Toni. She seems fun.”

“She is,” Cheryl answered with a little laugh.

Conversation continued on as they finished eating their lunches, and then the bell rang to dismiss them back to class. Veronica asked Cheryl to text her and Betty about shopping plans for the following day, and then they parted ways.

The rest of Friday flew by, and then Vixens practice came and went as well. Cheryl had been worried that Heather might try something since there would be a weekend as a buffer afterward, but she stayed silent and did the routines and hardly even looked at Cheryl. The redhead found herself wishing that she _would_ look angry, to give Cheryl something to be mad about, but she knew that was stupid.

When Vixens practice was over, Cheryl headed to her car, realizing that she had no plans for the evening. After working so hard to finish her homework early, she actually had nothing left to do over the weekend, leaving her nothing to do to fill her free time this evening. She briefly thought back to a few years ago, before her entire life had begun to revolve around Heather. She’d actually had hobbies—like archery. She hadn’t picked up her bow and arrow in years. Shaking her head, she brought herself back to this moment, and spent a few minutes sitting in her car, trying to decide what to do. Her mind finally made up, she headed to Pop’s.

At the diner, she ordered her regular milkshake, burger, and fries to go, and then doubled the order, replacing her strawberry shake with a vanilla for the second. When Pop gave her the bags of food, she thanked him, paid, and left the diner.

Heading back out to her car, she was surprised to see a few motorcycles driving into the parking lot. As the drivers parked and pulled off their helmets, she saw that it was Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Felicity. “Oh, hey Red!” Sweet Pea called, and she diverged from her former path to go over to them and say hi.

“Hey,” she returned, “what are you guys doing here?”

“I told Felicity about Pop’s, and I told her she had to try one of the famous Northside burgers before she leaves Riverdale,” Sweet Pea answered. “Fangs wanted along for the ride.”

“I’m not one to turn down burgers,” Fangs reasoned, shrugging. “You’re taking yours to-go?”

“Well… I was going to go by the Wyrm before Toni gets off later. One of these is for her,” Cheryl admitted.

“She doesn’t get off for a while,” Felicity said, surprising Cheryl, “so would you wanna join us before you head over there?”

Cheryl was pretty shocked by the question, but she knew that she would be stupid to refuse. Toni’s friends were asking her to eat with them, and Toni wasn’t there. Either they were being friendly, or they wanted to interrogate her, and either way, she _had_ to say yes, right?

“Sure,” Cheryl said.

That’s how she found herself walking back into Pop’s, both bags of food and milkshakes still in hand. Pop noticed her and offered to keep Toni’s food behind the bar and to refrigerate the milkshake, and Cheryl gratefully accepted. Then the four of them sat at an empty booth, and Fangs and Sweet Pea ordered their burgers, and Felicity hesitantly ordered one as well. “Any milkshakes?” Pop inquired, and the three gave in and all ordered chocolate milkshakes too.

“I told her that it’s the only noteworthy thing about the Northside,” Sweet Pea informed Cheryl.

“It pretty much is,” Cheryl agreed.

“Yeah, what else does this place have?” Fangs asked.

“We have the Bijou,” Cheryl answered, “but other than that? Not much else.”

“At least we have interesting places on the Southside, even if it’s all sort of falling apart,” Sweet Pea reasoned.

Felicity nodded, and then Pop appeared with three milkshakes, already done. As he walked away, Fangs and Felicity tried their shakes, both humming in approval. “That’s pretty decent,” Fangs said with a nod. “Not too expensive either. I always figured your Northsiders were paying a shit ton for some shitty fancy food.”

Cheryl laughed a little. “Some of us do that, trust me. My family does.”

“But clearly,” Felicity said with a raised eyebrow, “you don’t always do what your family wants you to do.”

“Nope,” Cheryl answered, “but even if I did, they still would find a reason to disapprove.”

“That’s why I was always happy with my family,” Sweet Pea said, “my dad has pretty low expectations.”

Cheryl shrugged. “Not sure expectations were the problem in my family. My twin brother was the one my parents wanted. Not a girl, not me. So I could never do enough to make up for existing.”

“Damn, Red,” Fangs said, “that’s dark.”

“No wonder she fits in with us Serpents,” Felicity noted, surprisingly serious, “she needs a family as much as we do.”

Cheryl gave the other girl a small smile as it dawned on her that Felicity was right. Toni had mentioned multiple times that the Serpents were like a family to her, one to replace the horrible family she’d been raised by. A support group. That was something Cheryl had always lacked as well. After all, she’d literally sought out Toni as a form of support. Maybe that was why she fit in so well.

Once the Serpents got their food, Cheryl took hers out of its to go bag and they started eating, and Felicity’s eyes when wide as she took a bite of the burger. “Okay,” she said, mouth still a little full, “this is a damn good burger.”

“Right?” Sweet Pea exclaimed.

“Yeah, okay,” Fangs agreed, swallowing his first bite, “I’ll admit, this was much better than I expected, even after Sweet Pea hyped it up so much.”

Cheryl smiled, and the Serpents kept up talking. Cheryl joined the conversation every now and then, but mostly she watched the three of them interact. Fangs and Felicity didn’t seem like siblings, but Cheryl was sure she felt that way because the two of them didn’t really bicker. They seemed more like best friends, and she admired that. She and Jason had been like that once. But she and Jason had _always_ been pitted against each other. Felicity and Fangs had grown up having to support each other, they were the ones that had to have each other’s backs. She wished that she and Jason could’ve always had each other’s backs like that.

When the group finished eating, Cheryl found herself offering to pay for the group, but Felicity shook her head. “I got it,” she insisted. “Consider it a parting gift, boys.”

“Aw, thanks Felicity,” Sweet Pea said with a grin.

“Yeah, thanks sis!”

Felicity gave Pop the cash with tip, and then Cheryl grabbed Toni’s food and milkshake from him, and they walked out of the diner.

“So, you going to the Wyrm?” Fangs asked Cheryl, who nodded.

“Mind if I tag along?” Sweet Pea asked.

“No, you’re welcome to,” Cheryl told him, and he grinned.

“Well, I guess we’ll see you both tomorrow morning, right?” Felicity asked, glancing at Cheryl and Sweet Pea.

“Right,” Cheryl agreed as Sweet Pea nodded. They all waved goodbye, and the Serpents hopped on their motorcycles as Cheryl climbed into her car. She smiled to herself as she started it and buckled her seatbelt. She’d never felt so included in the Serpents until now. _Felicity_ , who had glared at her the whole time she’d been at the spring break Sunnyside party, admitted that Cheryl fit in with them. It was incredible.

She felt on top of the world as she drove from Pop’s diner to the White Wyrm. She got there right after Sweet Pea, who had already taken his helmet off and was just waiting for her. Parking quickly and grabbing Toni’s milkshake, she got out of the car. “Where’s her food?” Sweet Pea asked.

“Well, I figure she can’t eat it until after,” Cheryl answered.

“Oh, so keeping it in your car is how you’ll be sure that she goes somewhere with you after she gets off in a couple hours?” Sweet Pea asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Cheryl blushed. “Maybe.”

“You two are hilarious.”

They walked into the bar, and it was pretty packed. It was Friday night, so that made sense. The pool tables were all occupied, and most of the tables had people sitting at them. Many Serpent jackets could be spotted throughout the bar.

Two people were working the bar and, of course, one of them was Toni. She didn’t have her jacket on while she was working, instead she just wore a white tank top. Her hair was pulled into two braids, and Cheryl thought she looked stunning.

She didn’t seem to notice Cheryl and Sweet Pea until they were stepping up to the bar, and then her face lit up when she realized who it was. “Hey! Did you guys come here together?” she asked in surprise.

“We met up at Pop’s on accident,” Cheryl answered, setting the milkshake on the bar, “and speaking of, this is for you.”

Toni smiled, taking the shake. “Thanks!” She took a quick sip of it, and then slipped it behind the bar.

“I got you food too,” Cheryl said, “but I figured you could just eat it after your shift.”

Toni nodded, but before she could say anything else, Sweet Pea said, “Oh, Jug is here? I’m gonna go say hey.” He headed off toward the pool tables where Jughead did happen to be, with Betty and a couple other Serpents. That left Cheryl there at the bar. There were only a couple of open seats, so she slipped onto one of them.

“How was your day?” Toni asked.

“It was good, actually,” Cheryl admitted. “I ran into Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Felicity at Pop’s and had dinner with them.”

“Oh, really?” Toni sounded surprised, and Cheryl didn’t blame her. “That’s cool. My evening’s been kind of tiring. Jug and Betty got here when it was less busy, so I got to talk to them a little.”

“Did you hear that Veronica and Betty are going décor shopping with me tomorrow?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, we’re going to get everything you could ever need for your room in Fangs’ trailer,” Cheryl assured her.

Toni chuckled. “Great. I mean, that’s the last thing I would invest in for the place, so I guess you might as well get it for me.” Cheryl smiled softly. “You know what I did hear about, though?”

“What?”

“They told me more details about your little cafeteria speech on Monday,” Toni admitted, “how you said people on the Southside work ten times as hard for a tenth of the things people on the Northside get.”

“Yeah, well that seems to be the case,” Cheryl said.

Toni smiled. “I wasn’t saying you said anything wrong. I was going to say that I was impressed that you said that people on the Southside work so hard. I don’t think you believed that when I met you.”

“Well, Toni,” Cheryl started pointedly, “I didn’t believe a lot of things when I met you.”

“So you’re saying I _opened_ your eyes?”

“Definitely.”

Toni grinned. “Wow. I’m powerful.”

“You are.”

“Toni,” the other bartender, and older woman, called, “can you help?”

“Shit,” Toni muttered, and it was off to making drinks for her.

Cheryl mostly sat at the bar through the rest of Toni’s shift. She ordered one beer that she nursed the whole time, and at some point, Sweet Pea, Jughead, and Betty came over to talk to her. Toni would stop and chat when she had the chance, but the bar was very busy, so that wasn’t much.

But at ten, a couple hours after Cheryl had gotten there, Toni finally got off work. She slipped on her Serpent jacket, gave Sweet Pea, Jughead and Betty a quick goodbye, and then she and Cheryl walked out of the bar together.

“I’m sure the food is cold, we can go to Thornhill or Sunnyside and heat it up if you want?” Cheryl offered.

“If we’re going to Thornhill,” Toni began, “then we have to stay there, because otherwise that’s a really long drive just to heat up food.”

Cheryl bit down on the inside of her lip. “Yeah, that’s fine with me. I’ll meet you there?”

They then took their separate vehicles and headed for Thornhill.

A little while later found them up in Cheryl’s room, Toni’s burger and fries heated up. They sat on her bed, on top of her covers, as Toni ate up her dinner. “Thanks for the food,” Toni said, a few bites into the meal. “You really didn’t have to buy me any dinner.”

“I wanted to,” Cheryl assured her.

“Well, thank you. So, how exactly did you end up eating dinner with Sweets, Fangs, and Felicity?” Toni wondered, lifting an eyebrow.

“It was really unexpected, actually. I saw them as I was walking out of Pop’s, and _Felicity_ invited me to eat with them, since you weren’t getting off until ten and I told them I was headed to the Wyrm,” Cheryl explained. “I was kind of scared at first. Felicity is a little intimidating.”

Toni smirked. “I didn’t know anyone could intimidate Cheryl Blossom.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Well hey, that’s cool.” Cheryl reached over to Toni’s fries, which were still in the paper to go bag from Pop’s, and stole one. “Hey, didn’t you already have your own fries?”

“Like, almost three hours ago,” Cheryl countered, stealing another one.

“You’re lucky I like you, Bombshell, or else I’d have to beat you up.”

Cheryl chuckled. “I believe it.”

“So, anything else interesting from today?” Toni wondered.

“Not really. Vixens practice was very uneventful, thankfully. Lunch with my friends was nice, they were asking about you a lot. Jughead and Veronica were pretty curious about when we started talking,” Cheryl admitted. “I counted and realized it’s been over two months since I met you.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy that in two months you went from hating me to liking me,” Toni teased, winking at Cheryl and then taking another bite of her burger.

“You went from hating me to liking me too,” Cheryl asserted, leaning back into her pillows.

Toni swallowed and gave Cheryl a funny look. “You really think I hated you when I met you?”

“Yes?”

“Maybe I hated what you were saying and how you were acting, but I could see through your mask _just_ enough to be intrigued,” Toni admitted. “Because you didn’t know I was watching you while you were watching _her_. I could see your jealousy and protectiveness… and your sadness. And I could relate.”

Cheryl felt her face get warm. “Oh.”

Toni ate the last bit of her burger and then set the to go bag and her trash on the nightstand. “Could I get some water?”

“Yeah, I think there’s actually some new water bottles under my sink in the bathroom,” Cheryl answered, and Toni got up from the bed.

“I’ll just go to the bathroom while I’m at it then,” Toni said with a smile, and slipped into Cheryl’s bathroom.

Cheryl sat on her bed, thinking about what she and Toni had just been talking about. She’d never really thought about the fact that Toni might’ve been actively watching her that first night at the Wyrm for very long, even if she did know that Toni was able to figure out that she liked Heather. It didn’t really matter though, what mattered was that in the last two months or so, Toni had become the person who knew Cheryl the best out of anyone.

When Toni came out of the bathroom, holding a newly opened water bottle, Cheryl immediately perked up again. “You okay?” Toni inquired, setting the water bottle down on the nightstand as well and crawling onto the bed.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered. After a moment of silence, she asked, “So, when you said you wanted to stay here, did you mean stay over?”

“I did,” Toni replied, “if that’s okay…”

“Of course,” Cheryl assured her, “that’s what I was hoping for.”

“Yeah, we’ve established that you always miss me,” Toni teased, scooting closer to Cheryl, their faces now just inches apart. Cheryl could feel the tension between them, and a force that was practically magnetic, begging Cheryl to close the distance between their lips.

“Don’t get cocky,” Cheryl murmured.

“Why don’t you just admit it?” Toni teased quietly. “You _always_ miss me.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Cheryl whispered, and Toni obeyed the command, pressing her lips firmly to Cheryl’s. There was nothing gentle about the kiss, it was fast and desperate, and Cheryl became very aware of how much she felt she _needed_ Toni right now. It had been four days since she’d last been able to kiss Toni, and she’d been trying to ignore how desperate for her she was becoming.

She dropped her hands to Toni’s waist, pulling the smaller girl on top of her lap. Toni gladly settled into that position, pushing Cheryl down onto the pillow, her tongue delving deep into Cheryl’s mouth. Her hands slipped underneath Cheryl’s top, her fingers cold against Cheryl’s abdomen. Cheryl let out a pleased hum into Toni’s mouth, her right hand coming up to Toni’s hair. It was still in two braids, and Cheryl found the hair ties keeping the braids together, pulling them out and dropping them somewhere onto the bed.

Toni laughed a little into their kiss and Cheryl began to untwist the braids without even looking. Once her hair was falling everywhere in colorful waves, Cheryl was able to tangle her hands into it, grabbing and pulling it enough to get a moan out of Toni.

Toni shifted herself, and suddenly her thigh was slipping in between Cheryl’s, pressing against her center. Cheryl felt the ache there between her own thighs, as her center throbbed and begged to be touched. She felt more than heard the moan that ripped through her throat and then died in Toni’s mouth.

Toni’s hands were still underneath her shirt, but had now found her breasts, squeezing them over her bra. There were suddenly all too many clothes between their bodies. Cheryl dropped her hands from Toni’s hands to grab at the hem of her own top, pulling it up. Toni released her boobs to help remove the clothing, and they broke their kiss to remove the top, both practically panting. Before their lips came back together, Toni reached underneath Cheryl, looking for her bra clasp, as Cheryl pushed off Toni’s jacket. They threw both the bra and the jacket on the floor, and their lips came back together desperately.

Cheryl wrapped her leg around the bottom of Toni’s, wanting to be closer to her in any way possible, and her hands found the hem of her white tank top. She pulled it up as much as she could before Toni finally broke their kiss again for Cheryl to remove the top. She made sure to hook her hands underneath the bralette that Toni was wearing, pulling it off with the tank top as well.

Both of them bare chested now, they went back to making out, Cheryl’s hands feeling Toni’s boobs, running her thumbs over her hard nipples. Toni’s hands were exploring lower, around to Cheryl’s ass, squeezing firmly. Cheryl groaned, her hips bucking, grinding her center into Toni’s thigh.

Toni quietly moaned, her hands coming around to the front of Cheryl’s jeans. She pulled her lips away from Cheryl’s for just long enough to murmur, “Can I take these off?”

“Please,” Cheryl begged, and Toni didn’t hesitate any longer. She unbuttoned the jeans and began to peel them off of Cheryl, leaving her only in underwear. Toni froze above her, taking in her whole body, and Cheryl felt her cheeks flush. Toni’s hands came to Cheryl’s thighs, touching them and squeezing lightly. “God, Toni…”

“You are _so_ sexy, Cheryl,” Toni whispered, and suddenly she dropped her lips to the inside of Cheryl’s thigh. Cheryl shuddered as Toni pressed little kisses to the skin there, her hands slipping underneath her to her ass, squeezing and causing Cheryl’s hips to buck again. Her center was throbbing, desperate for Toni to touch it. Cheryl’s nipples were also hard, and her own hands came to them and pinched, giving her some form of relief. Toni noticed and moan deeply. Her hands were suddenly grabbing the edge of Cheryl’s panties, and she turned her gaze up. “Can I take _these_ off?”

“Yes,” Cheryl answered breathlessly. “Please, Toni, please take them off and fuck me.”

“God that’s so hot,” Toni moaned, starting to pull down the underwear. Her eyes were affixed to Cheryl’s center as it was revealed. “Fuck, you’re so ready for me, aren’t you, Cher?”

“Yes, Toni, please,” Cheryl begged, any thought, other than how badly she needed Toni, gone from her mind. “I need you so bad, Toni.”

Toni crawled up the bed over Cheryl’s body, and pressed her lips back onto the redhead’s as her hand slipped down between her thighs, finally touching her where she needed it. Cheryl gasped into Toni’s mouth as she finally got any semblance of relief. “God, babe, you’re so wet…” Toni fingers slid through her wetness and Cheryl couldn’t help but grind down into them. Toni let out a low chuckle, her fingers sliding gently into Cheryl. “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Cheryl gasped out. Toni’s thumb touched her clit as her index and middle finger went carefully in and out of Cheryl. Toni’s other hand fondled with Cheryl’s boobs, her lips attached to Cheryl’s until Cheryl began to breathe too quickly, then Toni trailed wet kisses down her neck, sucking at least one hickey into the soft skin there. Cheryl couldn’t bring herself to care, though, because she was utterly distracted by Toni touching her. She felt herself getting close, and she began pleading to Toni, “D-don’t stop, p-please, don’t stop!”

Toni moaned, pressing her thumb more firmly into Cheryl’s clit and rubbing as her fingers pressed deeper into Cheryl. She felt Toni curl her fingers inside of her, and that was her undoing. She let out a loud cry of pleasure, her back arched for multiple seconds, and then she collapsed onto the bed. Toni didn’t remove her fingers, but instead lowered herself down to the level of Cheryl’s center, her mouth close to it. She blew cold air against it, and Cheryl shuddered. “May I?” Cheryl nodded, and Toni pressed her tongue into the wet mess between Cheryl’s thighs.

She licked Cheryl clean, and then pressed her tongue against her clit, causing Cheryl’s hips to buck a little again. But then Toni was crawling back up the bed, pulling her fingers out of Cheryl and sliding them into her mouth, sucking them clean. Cheryl moaned at that, and as soon as Toni had dropped her hand away from her face, Cheryl pulled her down for a kiss. She could taste herself on Toni’s lips.

The kiss didn’t last long, because Cheryl was still breathless, so she relaxed fully into the bed, allowing Toni to lay out next to her. Cheryl realized suddenly that Toni had never taken her pants off, yet here she was, naked. “Take those off,” Cheryl heard herself mutter.

Toni obeyed, unbuttoning her black jeans and wiggling out of them. It left her only in black underwear, and as Cheryl took in the sight of the girl, she noticed the little curled snake tattoo, sitting just above her underwear on her right hip. Cheryl’s hand immediately ventured to it, touching it gently with the pads of her fingers, and Toni looked down and watched as she did. “Yeah, that’s it,” Toni said with a slight exhale, “the infamous tattoo.”

“I like it,” Cheryl heard herself say.

“Really?” Toni asked doubtfully.

Cheryl nodded. “It looks good regardless, but… it’s also important to you. I know that.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, surprise still in her voice. Cheryl got the feeling that Toni didn’t fully believe her, so she gathered her remaining energy and pulled herself up a bit, gently pushing Toni onto her back. She crawled down the bed until her face was level with Toni’s hip, and she pressed a kiss over the tattoo. Toni shivered slightly as she did, and Cheryl couldn’t help it as her lips curled into a small smile.

She looked up at Toni. “You’re beautiful, Toni. You being a Serpent doesn’t change that—you can be badass and a little rough around the edges… and still be beautiful.” Toni bit down on her lower lip, and Cheryl could see the appreciation in the girl’s eyes. Cheryl traced her fingers over the tattoo one more time, before dragging her hands down over Toni’s hips and onto her thighs. Toni spread her legs apart without any hesitation, and Cheryl could already smell Toni’s wetness.

She wasn’t completely confident that she would do perfectly in pleasing Toni on her first attempt, but she was ready to fake confidence all the way through. So she put her hands on the sides of Toni’s underwear, looking to the Serpent for consent, and Toni nodded, so she pulled it off and threw it off the bed.

Then she crawled up the bed over Toni, using her legs to keep Toni’s thighs slightly spread as she tangled her hands in Toni’s hair and brought their lips together. Toni’s hands were on Cheryl’s bare back, her short nails digging into her soft skin.

Gathering her confidence, whether it was fake or real, Cheryl dragged her right hand down Toni’s body, leaving goosebumps on her chest and her sides. Finally, Cheryl’s hand reached the spot between Toni’s thighs, and she carefully began to explore between Toni’s legs. Toni immediately let out a noise of satisfaction just at feeling Cheryl’s touch, but she quickly became visibly needier. Cheryl was just slowly exploring, feeling around Toni’s opening and her clit, and Toni grunted as she thrusted forward slightly, and Cheryl clearly understood what she wanted. She pulled her face away from Toni’s, trying to gauge the girl’s reactions as she slipped her fingers inside Toni.

Toni’s eyes were shut as she let out a moan, grinding down to get Cheryl’s fingers deeper inside of her. Cheryl bit down on her lip as she carefully began to curl her fingers inside Toni experimentally, while also moving them out and in rhythmically. Toni seemed to like that, so she kept it up, and began to press kissed on Toni’s jawline.

After a few minutes of that, Toni grunted and murmured, “Please, touch my clit, Cher, please.” Cheryl obeyed the girl, twisting her wrist so that her thumb could press onto Toni’s clit. That immediately made Toni’s hips jolt and Cheryl bit down on her lip again, feeling focused and turned on at the same time.

She kept up the same rhythm, watching Toni as she played with her clit and delved in and out of her with two of her fingers. Eventually, Toni seemed to start getting close, and she began to practically cling to Cheryl, and then she let out a loud moan before completely relaxing.

Cheryl rolled off of Toni, lying next to her and leaving her fingers in between Toni’s thighs for now. Toni had to catch up with her breaths, and then her eyes finally fluttered back open, her gaze bouncing around for a moment before landing on Cheryl, who couldn’t help but stare at her face. “Was that okay?” Cheryl heard herself ask.

Toni nodded, a small smile coming to her face. “It was more than okay, Cheryl.” Cheryl returned the smile, and she dropped down into the bed, resting her head on the pillow next to Toni’s. She pulled her hand out from in between Toni’s thighs carefully and then dragged her wet fingers up along Toni’s hip, tracing around her Serpent tattoo.

“You can call me Cher, you know,” Cheryl told the girl, “like you did now. Not many people do, mostly like Veronica and Jason, but you can, if you want to.”

“Okay,” Toni noted, “I’ll remember that. Apparently during sex, I can’t be bothered with full names.” She chuckled, and Cheryl smiled, letting her eyelids fall closed. “Although, I didn’t really think you were the kind of person who loved nicknames.”

“Why not?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni shrugged. “I don’t know, just an impression I got that was wrong, I guess. Well, I knew about Bombshell, but since you picked that one out for yourself, I guess I figured there wasn’t anything else. And I didn’t think you liked Red very much.”

“Well… yeah, I don’t know. Cher is what Jason and my friends sometimes call me. Coining ‘Cheryl Bombshell’ maybe wasn’t my best idea. I never disliked Red, though. I actually kind of found it endearing,” Cheryl admitted. “As far as calling people nicknames, I call Jason JJ. He’s pretty much the only one. Except for, obviously, people like Sweet Pea and Jughead and stuff. Veronica goes by Ronnie sometimes, but I never thought we were close enough for me to call her that.”

“Well, you know Toni is a nickname,” Toni told her, and Cheryl opened her eyes, pulling away in surprise.

“Really?”

Toni nodded. “Yeah, but once I tell you what it’s short for, you better not ever repeat it.” Cheryl nodded. “It’s Antoinette.”

“Antoinette…”

Toni playfully pushed Cheryl back down onto the bed, and said, “I said don’t repeat it!”

“I just wanted to try saying it!” Cheryl argued, chuckling as she cuddled back up against Toni. “I can see why you prefer Toni. You’re not an Antoinette.”

“No,” Toni agreed, “I’m not.” There were a few moments of silence, before Toni continued, “My dad’s name is Antony. My parents named me after him. He went by Ant normally, that’s what I always heard him called. When I really little, they would go back and forth between calling me Ann and Toni, but I started introducing myself as Toni as soon as I was old enough to understand that my name was a play off my dad’s. I didn’t want my name to give away who I was to him. Because he was a horrible dad.”

Cheryl tightened her hold on Toni a little. “How old were you, when your parents got arrested?”

“Eleven,” Toni answered. “Almost twelve. I was happy they were gone.”

“But you must’ve been hurt too,” Cheryl whispered, almost nervous to ask about it. Toni was silent for a few moments before finally answering.

“I guess so,” she agreed quietly. “I was always mad at them. I was happy they got put away, because they deserved it. But they left me with my shitty uncle, which was better, but not by much. I found my family in the Serpents, and did my best to forget my parents.”

“You know,” Cheryl murmured, “I admire how strong you are, Toni.”

Toni hummed pleasantly. “Thanks.” Cheryl kept her eyes closed, feeling herself start to drift off a bit. Toni’s hand began to run through Cheryl’s hair, and Cheryl genuinely started to drift off, and then Toni adjusted slightly, and Cheryl’s eyes fluttered back open. “Sorry,” Toni apologized, “I just realized I should probably text Sweets and let him know not to expect me back at the trailer.”

“Okay,” Cheryl murmured, pulling herself away from Toni so that she could grab her phone. Cheryl couldn’t keep her eyes off of Toni’s naked body as she laid there, waiting for Toni to be done. She suddenly felt a surge of something in her chest, possessiveness maybe, and as soon as Toni set down her phone, Cheryl used the last of her energy to get on top of her.

“Whoa,” Toni said with a chuckle, “I thought you were about to fall asleep.”

“I am,” Cheryl admitted, “but…”

“What?”

“I just wanted to know… what are we?”

Toni’s eyebrows twitched upward slightly, and then she steeled her expression a little and brought her hands up to Cheryl’s face. “What are you asking, Bombshell?”

“Just…” Cheryl trailed off. “I really like you, and… I…” Toni caressed Cheryl’s cheeks with her thumbs, waiting patiently for Cheryl to get the point that she wasn’t sure she was able to voice. She wanted to be able to, but for some reason, she couldn’t get the words out.

“And you…” Toni tried to prompt Cheryl to continue, but the redhead just continued to stare at her, hoping the Serpent would just give in. Toni smiled a little. “…and you… wanna be my girlfriend?”

Cheryl felt her cheeks warm. “Yes.”

“So why don’t you ask for what you want?” Toni teased, her hands leaving Cheryl’s face and moving down to her naked ass, squeezing a little. Cheryl took in a breath, gathering up the courage.

“Can I be your girlfriend?” Cheryl whispered.

“You can,” Toni confirmed with a chuckle, “if I can be yours.”

“Deal,” Cheryl murmured, leaning down and pressing her lips to Toni’s. She felt a little dorky for how the conversation had just happened, but she was past feeling embarrassed around Toni. In fact, it felt good to have done something silly and to not be judged, but to be appreciated. It felt good to be here with Toni, cuddling naked and kissing lazily, putting off getting ready for bed for just a few more minutes of active cuddling.

Eventually, though, they of course had to get up and take off their makeup and put on pajamas, and they climbed under the dirtied covers, curled up together, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHH!! Are you squealing of feels right now? Choni's first time AND they're official now? It's only been 20 chapters, had to happen eventually, huh? ;D  
> What kind of stuff do you guys think is going to happen in the rest of this story? I'm curious :3  
> I know I keep saying it, but I still wanna do another Periscope. My cold has been taking longer than expected to go away, but I really think it will be a lot better by Saturday, so that's when I'm going to plan to do a Persicope. Maybe it will come with a bonus update? We'll see ;D Follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana to keep updated about Periscopes!  
> Last thing I wanted to say, I've been having a hard time motivating myself to write, and I think it's happening because now that my productive place for school is home, it's hard for me to balance being productive with school and being productive with writing. If I'm writing, I feel bad that I'm not doing school. Oof, it's rough. But I'm going to try and get better about it, because I really wanna finish the Toni POV so it can go up after this! And we only have 10 chapters left!  
> Another quick Sidenote: I know in the show, there are a lot more high school Serpents. Honestly, I just kinda forgot about that while writing when I explicitly said how many high school Serpents there are. You can assume that others like Peaches (who else even is there?) who are around Toni and Cheryl's age are either a couple years younger and not initiated in yet, or they graduated recently lol *shrugs*.  
> OKAY! Sorry for the super long note lovelies! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this huge chapter haha. I appreciate all of your, your kudos, and your comments so much <3 Hopefully I can see some of you on the Periscope that I will hopefully finally do on Saturday, and if not, I will definitely see you for the next update <3 Have a lovely weekend, and stay healthy <3 xx


	21. we run together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni and Cheryl help Felicity pack up to move, and Cheryl goes shopping with Veronica and Betty for decorations for Toni's room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE!! I'm currently Periscope live streaming and everyone there convinced me to update early sooooo! Here you go! I will still update tomorrow of course, so this is a bonus update <3   
> Enjoy friends!

Something was ringing when Cheryl woke up, and the more she came to her senses, the louder it seemed. Frustrated at the sound, she groaned and pulled herself closer to Toni, whose arms were wrapped around her. But Toni was stirring from the sound too, and she muttered, “That’s your phone.”

“Why would my phone be ringing?” Cheryl mumbled, burying her face into Toni’s chest, where she happened to be facing. She continued, her voice muffled, “No one ever calls me.”

“Well my phone doesn’t make that noise,” Toni said, pulling her arms out from around Cheryl, “answer your phone.”

Cheryl groaned, finally opening her eyes and sitting up. She reached for her phone, and raised her eyebrows as she realized that Sweet Pea was calling her. She answered it. “Hey.”

“Hey? Dude, you and Toni were supposed to be here like forty-five minutes ago,” Sweet Pea asserted.

“What?” Cheryl demanded. “No one told me what time we were supposed to be anywhere.”

“Well, Toni knew,” Sweet Pea insisted.

“What time is it?”

“Really, you didn’t even look at the time before picking up the phone?” Sweet Pea asked. “It’s almost ten-thirty. We were trying to be done by lunchtime.”

“Ugh, give us like twenty minutes to get ready and then we’ll be there,” Cheryl said.

“Alright, see you then, Red!”

Cheryl hung up the phone, and directed her gaze to Toni, who was looking up at her, feigning innocence. “You didn’t tell me we were supposed to be at Sunnyside before ten!”

“I forgot?” Toni tried, and Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Okay, to be fair, you very much took over my night last night. I was supposed to tell you to meet us there at nine forty-five.”

“I guess we just have to get ready fast,” Cheryl said, starting to get up from the bed. Before she could stand, though, Toni grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward her.

“No, wait,” Toni whined, “I don’t wanna. We’ll just let them do it all.”

“I finally got Felicity on my good side and now you want us to just blow off helping her?” Cheryl asked, although she found herself laying out next to Toni again anyway. She was beginning to realize that she couldn’t resist this girl.

“Okay, no, but just one more minute,” Toni suggested. Cheryl ran her hand through Toni’s messy hair, giving in to her suggestion.

“Some of your colors are fading,” she commented.

“Yeah, I need to gather the energy to actually redo it,” Toni said. “It’s a lot of effort. I have a ton of hair.”

“I know that feeling—except I’ve never tried to dye mine.”

“You shouldn’t,” Toni said, “your hair is beautiful.”

Cheryl smiled softly. “Thank you. Come on, Toni, we need to get ready to go to Sunnyside.”

“Fine.”

They both got up and took turns using the bathroom. They both definitely needed showers, but they were running late, so neither of them got the chance. Cheryl had never gotten dressed and done her whole face of makeup so fast before. They didn’t even have time to get breakfast before they were rushing out of Thornhill.

“You wanna ride with me?” Toni asked her. “I can get us there faster.”

“I’ll ignore the obvious challenge you’ve just poised against my car because we’re in a rush,” Cheryl said, lifting an eyebrow. Toni rolled her eyes, getting on her motorcycle and grabbing Cheryl her extra helmet. A moment later, Cheryl was sat behind the Serpent, her arms wrapped around her, and Toni took off toward Sunnyside.

When they arrived at Fangs’ trailer, it was almost exactly twenty minutes after Cheryl had hung up the call with Sweet Pea earlier. As they got off of the motorcycle, Cheryl saw Fangs, Sweet Pea, Jughead, and Felicity all hanging out outside the trailer, Felicity and Fangs in lawn chairs. “Did you guys finish?” Toni called as she put down her helmet.

“No, we haven’t started,” Jughead answered, looking annoyed. “According to Fangs and Sweet Pea, we couldn’t start until everyone was here.”

“That’s stupid,” Toni deadpanned, looking at her friends.

“I agree,” Felicity said, “but Sweets and Fangs agreed to do most of the heavy lifting, so.”

“What sort of heavy lifting do you even have to do?” Jughead asked, confused.

Felicity shrugged. “Any lifting? I might as well use this free labor while I still have access to it. In the city, I’ll be doing everything on my own, including getting all new furniture.”

“Alright, well we’re here now,” Toni said, “so put us to work.”

Felicity gave everyone tasks in the trailer, and then she went to go get her car, which was apparently parked in front of the trailer park. Fangs was tasked to the bathroom, Jughead to the kitchen, and Sweet Pea, Toni, and Cheryl went into Felicity’s room to start on clearing out her dresser into a few duffels.

“Has she had the car a while?” Cheryl heard herself ask, genuinely curious. She was under the impression that Serpents were very much motorcyclists, and other than FP, she hadn’t actually seen a Serpent drive a car.

“No,” Sweet Pea answered, “she bought it like five months ago, she got it dirt cheap and had to fix it up herself, but now it’s kicking better than it was before.”

“Yeah, she knew she needed to get a car to actually motivate herself to get out of town, but since she’ll be in the city, she’s probably not gonna be using it much,” Toni explained further.

“What is she going to be doing in the city?” Cheryl wondered.

“Honestly,” Sweet Pea said, “she hasn’t really said. I think some of the older Serpents think that she’s gonna end up crawling back in a few months, even more broke than when she left, but us younger Serpents really think she’s got this. Serpents don’t usually get a chance to have a fully-fledged life outside of the gang, but if anyone can do it, she can.”

“Yeah, and those who have in the past have all been men,” Toni added, looking pointedly at Cheryl, “so Felicity is going to be the first to show all the older Serpents that women are just as capable as men.”

“Well, any Serpent who gets out of Riverdale is an outlier,” Sweet Pea argued, “sex doesn’t play a part in it. I guarantee you that no one else is gonna be able to get out of Riverdale for a while.”

Cheryl glanced at Toni, but didn’t say what she was thinking—that Toni could do it if she wanted to. If she did, Cheryl would want and try to help her, but even without her help, she believed that Toni could do it if she wanted to. She’d been through so many thing, and she worked a regular job already. Cheryl could picture her dedicating herself to getting enough money to get out of Riverdale.

“You never dream of getting out of here, Sweets?” Toni wondered.

He shrugged. “Not really. Why would I want to?”

They continued to empty Felicity’s dresser in silence, a layer of tension now resting between the three of them. Cheryl kept glancing at Toni, trying to read her expression, but couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.

As they were finishing up the dresser, Felicity came into the room. “Why so quiet, guys?” She started pulling out some boxes from under her bed, tossing some things from her nightstand into them.

“No reason,” Toni answered. “We were wondering, though, what kind of jobs are you gonna be looking for in New York?”

“Honestly, maybe a bartender gig?” Felicity admitted. “I worked at the White Wyrm for a while a couple years ago. But really, I’ll take anything. I’ll probably start off getting a couple of jobs. I’m not stupid, I know that I can’t just go there and wander around. I’m not about to come back here empty handed. The next time you guys see me, I’ll be a real city girl.”

Fangs snorted with laughter, suddenly appearing in the doorway. “You, a city girl? Yeah, right.”

“Fuck off, little bro, you’ll see what I mean after I’ve been there a year,” Felicity snapped at him.

“It’s in her name, after all,” Cheryl heard herself say, and Sweet Pea’s jaw dropped.

“Oh my god! Feli _city_!” he exclaimed.

“Dude, really?” Fangs asked him. “You’ve never realized that?”

Sweet Pea shrugged, and Felicity said, “Cheryl’s right, I’ve got this.”

“You know us girls have got your back, Felicity,” Toni said, glaring at Fangs.

“I’ve got your back too, sis, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

“Hey,” Jughead called, “what’s going on in there that I’m being left out of?”

“Nothing!” Felicity exclaimed. “Fangs, go help Jughead get my stuff out of the kitchen and the living room. Come on, guys, I’m hungry and we gotta get this done.”

Getting it done was very fast and easy, and a little before noon, Felicity’s car was all packed up. Cheryl couldn’t help but be astounded by how few things Felicity owned, even though she knew that Toni owned even fewer things. She was just so accustomed to having virtually everything one could ever need, or at least the ability to get it. She’d always known that she was privileged growing up, but she’d perhaps never _understood_ it until the recent months.

“Good work, guys,” Felicity said in approval. “Seriously, though, thanks for your help.”

“Of course,” Fangs said with a smile. “Now please tell me we’re gonna get some food soon?”

They all ended up hopping on motorcycles—Cheryl on the back of Toni’s, of course—and headed to the Southside pizza place. Joaquin happened to be working, so he got them all a table together in his section, and they ordered four pizzas between the six of them. Cheryl mostly just listened as the group interacted, knowing that it was going to be much harder for them to say goodbye to Felicity than it was for her.

“I wish you didn’t have to leave right after the Wyrm tonight,” Fangs said, “we can’t even get drunk, since you have to drive right after.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “You don’t have anything to even get drunk about.”

“Uh, my sister is moving away?”

“You’re not even going to think about it after a few days,” Felicity insisted. “Toni’s going to take my room, you won’t even have an empty trailer.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure once _Toni_ has her own room and bed, you’ll be seeing a _lot_ of Cheryl too,” Sweet Pea reminded Fangs with a grin.

“Oh shut up,” Toni said with an eyeroll.

“He’s got a point,” Felicity said, “you two do spend a lot of time together.”

Cheryl smiled a little to herself, taking another bite of her pizza to keep from being an obvious smiling dork. Toni just rolled her eyes. “So what?”

“It’s cute,” Felicity answered with a little laugh. “And Toni, when I’m gone you better stay keeping these boys in check.”

“Oh I will,” Toni assured her.

“We don’t need babysitting,” Sweet Pea argued.

Jughead snorted. “Yes, you do.”

“Hey, you’re one to talk,” Fangs snapped at him.

Felicity just rolled her eyes, and she and Toni shared knowing looks, as Cheryl chuckled. For the rest of the lunch, the Serpents went around and said nice things about Felicity, and wished the best for her. They hung out at the pizza place for a while, and then it was time for the Serpents to get ready to go to the Wyrm.

“So, I’ll take Cheryl home and then meet you guys at the Wyrm in a bit?” Toni said, and they all said goodbye.

“Good luck, Felicity,” Cheryl said with a small smile, and Felicity returned it.

“Thanks, Red.”

When they got back to Thornhill, and Cheryl climbed off and took off her helmet, Toni asked, “Do you want me to text you when we’re done at the Wyrm?”

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed.

“Okay,” Toni said with a small smile. “I’ll see you later, then?”

“Definitely.” Cheryl leaned down to press her lips softly to Toni’s as the Serpent sat on her motorcycle. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, and then Cheryl forced herself to pull away and step back, knowing that Toni probably wanted to get back to her friends so they could hang out before the sendoff party started at the Wyrm. “Bye, Toni.”

“Bye, Cher,” Toni replied, pulling her helmet back on, revving her engine, and taking off away from Thornhill.

Cheryl walked back inside as she texted Veronica and Betty that she was free to go shopping whenever they wanted, and didn’t notice Jason leaning against the railing of the stairs. “So,” he said suddenly, startling her, “you and Toni are getting pretty serious now?”

“Why were you watching us like a creepy stalker?” Cheryl demanded, walking past him and going up the stairs. She heard him following her up the steps.

“I wasn’t,” he insisted, “I just heard the motorcycle and was curious. I didn’t realize you’d ridden on that thing with her before.”

“Well, I have.”

“Is it terrifying?” Jason wondered.

“It… sort of was at first,” she admitted, walking toward her room, “but not so much anymore. Don’t think I would be comfortable driving one myself, though.”

Jason nodded. “Well, it does seem fun at least. So, are you two getting pretty serious, though?” Cheryl let out a breath, finally stopped walking, and turned to face her brother. “Sorry to pry, I just… I want to know you again, Cheryl. And I feel like last weekend, we were able to finally open up to each other. And I liked that.”

Cheryl nodded slowly. “Yeah, Toni and I are getting pretty serious. We’ve made it official.”

“Oh awesome,” he said brightly, “you look happy when you’re with her, and when you talk about her. And I’m glad that you’re happy.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and I meant to ask how this week went for you? I didn’t want to get all in your business, since we haven’t been very close at school… but I want you to know that I tried telling all the Bulldogs to quit talking shit about you, after Heather sent that text around,” Jason told her.

“It was kind of horrible at first, I’ll admit,” Cheryl said, “but after I got to say my piece about it… I realized that I don’t care what anyone at Riverdale High thinks about me, my sexuality, my relationship… I simply just do not care.”

Jason smiled. “That’s a good outlook. I’m proud of you.” Cheryl felt a smile come to her face naturally as well.

“Thanks.” Her phone buzzed suddenly in her hand.

**Veronica – Okay! Wanna meet in town? Betty and I were at lunch, we just finished so we can meet you there in a few!**

**Cheryl – Sure, I’ll leave in a minute.**

“Got plans?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, I’m going shopping with Veronica and Betty,” Cheryl answered. “I guess I might see you later?”

“Yeah,” he said, “see you.”

So Cheryl headed back downstairs, without having gone back to her room, and left for town. She met up with Veronica and Betty outside one of the Riverdale antique stores, and they went in to scope out the décor they had. However, Cheryl quickly realized that she didn’t really know how to style Toni’s room.

“Did you ask her?” Betty asked.

Cheryl shrugged. “I told her I was going to decorate it, and she didn’t give any input, so no. But I was thinking we could go for a color scheme of like, blue and purple? I was thinking pink too, because of her hair, but I don’t think she’d want a pink bedroom.”

Veronica nodded slowly. “So, what all do we need to find? Curtains?” Cheryl nodded. “Okay, and probably a rug… sheets and a comforter…”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, “and I was thinking a cute lamp, and just some stuff to dress the place up. To not have it feel like _Felicity’s_ _old room_ , but _Toni’s room_.”

So with that, they swept through the antique store, and Cheryl actually found a lamp with a unique, lavender colored shade, and she had to have it. It was the only thing they found in the shop that they decided they liked, and so Cheryl bought it, for not even that high of a price, and they left the store.

She dropped the lamp off at her car, and they moved on the more modern décor store that was in town. It was here that she was sure they’d find most everything that they needed, but she’d wanted to check the antique store first just in case.

“So I feel like the light purple will go well with a darker blue, otherwise it might look like a baby’s room,” Veronica suggested. Cheryl thought for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

“I like that,” she said.

“I don’t know how you guys can just like, visualize this in your mind,” Betty admitted.

“Some of us just have a knack for it,” Cheryl insisted.

Veronica chuckled, and then said, “Okay, the last time I was here, they had these really nice, blue curtains. Mind if I go get them?”

“That sounds good,” Cheryl said, and Veronica grinned, hurrying off to a different part of the store, leaving Betty and Cheryl to head off toward the sheets and blankets.

“So,” Betty started, “what do you think of the Serpents and everyone? Now that you’ve been around them a lot more.”

“I like them a lot,” Cheryl admitted.

“That’s good. I never really would’ve expected it,” Betty told her, “that you’d get along with them. When Jughead told me he’d talked to Toni and found out that you two were actually friends, I was honestly shocked.”

Cheryl nodded slowly. “Well, that makes two of us. The more I realized how close I was getting to her, and even Sweet Pea, the more surprised I was at myself. I don’t know how I used to be so hateful toward them. Sure, some of the stuff they deal with is…”

“Illegal?” Betty suggested, quirking a small smile.

“Yeah… some of the stuff they deal with isn’t safe or legal… but I know Toni can hold her own, and I know that the Serpents are her family.” Cheryl let out a breath. “And as someone who can relate to lacking good parents, I can’t blame her for wanting a family, as atypical as it is.”

“Yeah, I think part of the reason Jughead loves it so much because, you know, he hasn’t been able to see his sister or his mom in so long,” Betty explained, “and it feels good for him to have other people to be close to. Plus, I think he’s starting to like the idea that he’s sort of in line to take lead when FP finally steps down.”

They were now in the aisle with sheets and blankets, and Cheryl began selecting some plain white sheets, all cotton with high thread counts. “What do Jughead and FP think about Felicity leaving?”

“I think they’re proud of her,” Betty answered.

“They aren’t mad that she’s leaving the Serpents behind?”

Betty shrugged. “There’s no really leaving the Serpents, unless you completely betray them or something. To them, she’s still part of their family, but she’s decided to go off on her own. It’s not unheard of, even if it is uncommon. The Serpents love being a part of the gang, and they love having their family, but it’s no secret that pretty much all of them are living in poverty, and risking arrest a lot of the time. There’s definitely some Serpents who judge people like Felicity for leaving, but it doesn’t happen often, so they kind of keep it to themselves. At least, that’s what Jughead has told me.”

“That makes sense.” Cheryl went silent as she began scanning the comforter sets that the store had for twin size beds. There weren’t many options, unfortunately. She found herself slightly zoning out, though, thinking about earlier, when Sweet Pea had said that no other Serpents were going to be leaving Riverdale for a while, and Betty eventually gently touched her arm.

“You okay, Cheryl?”

“Fine,” Cheryl answered quickly, blinking and resuming her scan of the options.

“You’re thinking about Toni… and if she’ll leave the Serpents. Aren’t you?” Betty asked.

Cheryl looked at Betty, trying to feign innocence. “What? No.”

“Come on, Cheryl. I’ve been there, you can talk to me,” Betty insisted. “I know you must be thinking it. You don’t want to stay here forever, at least not for college, and it makes sense for you to want her to go with you.”

“We’ve known each other for less than three months,” Cheryl argued, “I’m not already thinking about that.”

“ _Really_?” Betty demanded. Cheryl rolled her eyes, finally selecting a lavender comforter and then turning into a another aisle to look for something blue to balance it out. “Come on, Cheryl. You can’t have _not_ thought about it.”

“Okay, maybe I’ve been thinking about it _today_ ,” Cheryl admitted, “but it’s not like I’ve been dwelling on it or something.”

“Well, if you ever want to talk about it… I went through the same thing. But I talked to him about it, and learned that Jug actually is interested in college, and he would be willing to leave Riverdale for school—at least. After that… we’d have to play it by ear, you know? And I’m sure that Toni would be willing to talk to you about it at least.”

“College is over a year away anyway,” Cheryl muttered, grabbing a set of blue bed accessories—a skirt, a pillow case, and a blanket. “We just need to grab a couple pillows now, and then we need to look for a rug.”

Betty took the hint that the conversation was over, and grabbed two pillows as per Cheryl’s request, and then they headed back toward the front of the store to reconvene with Veronica, who had found the curtains. “Ooh, they match,” she said happily, looking at the blue items Cheryl had grabbed. “Let’s drop these at the cashier and go get a rug?”

They managed to find a blue rug that matched everything else well enough, and that just left any extra decorations. So the swept through the store one last time, and Cheryl found a lavender table runner that she could picture on top of the dresser in the room, so she grabbed that, and declared that they were done. She didn’t want to go too over the top, because she had a feeling that Toni would be upset with her if she did.

They checked out, and then carried everything back over to Cheryl’s car. “So, what are you two doing for the rest of the afternoon and evening, with your beau’s occupied?” Veronica wondered, lifting an eyebrow.

“I didn’t really have a plan,” Cheryl admitted, and Betty nodded that she was in the same boat.

“You guys are welcome to come to The Pembrooke and hang out for a while if you want,” Veronica offered.

And that’s how the three of them ended up at Veronica’s apartment, and they put on some dumb comedy TV show and talked. It was the first time since Cheryl and Heather had stopped hanging out that she’d hung out with anyone like this, just absently watching TV while chatting about stuff that didn’t matter. Just friendly conversation. And, unlike with Heather, there was no overthinking now. These were her friends, plain and simple. They’d proven themselves to be supportive and kind, and Cheryl realized that she was actually very grateful for them.

They hung out at Veronica’s for quite a while, until about seven in the evening. Cheryl was actually pretty surprised that the sendoff at the Wyrm had gone on so long. Around seven, Toni texted Cheryl to let her know that it was over.

**Toni – We’re done at the Wyrm, Felicity is officially off to NY to go check in to her motel.**

**Cheryl – Okay! Did you want to come to Thornhill?**

**Toni – I’m actually kind of in the mood to be out and about. Can we go to Pop’s?**

**Cheryl – Sure, dinner sounds good about now. Want to meet me there?**

**Toni – Yeah :)**

Cheryl looked up at Betty and Veronica, who were talking about something or another that Cheryl had checked out of as soon as she’d seen her text from Toni. “Hey,” she gently interrupted them, “thank you guys so much for coming with me today and letting me hang out.”

“Oh, anytime, Cher!” Veronica insisted.

Cheryl smiled. “I think Toni and I are gonna meet at Pop’s.”

“Oh, is the thing over?” Betty asked, grabbing for her phone.

Veronica laughed lightly. “You’re going to bail on me for your SO too?” Betty rolled her eyes. “I’m just kidding. You two go and have fun with Toni and with Jug.”

“You could always get with Archie,” Cheryl told her, “everyone at RH is always making that a big rumor anyway.”

Veronica shrugged. “I don’t need a man to be happy. The boys here are too… juvenile for me. I need mature, college boys.”

“I’m not sure you’re going to find that many mature boys in college either,” Betty said with a laugh.

“Whatever,” Veronica said, shaking her head. “Off you two go!”

Cheryl drover her car, still full of stuff for Toni’s room, to Pop’s, and found that Toni was already there, leaning against her motorcycle, a joint in between two of her fingers. Cheryl parked her car, but it wasn’t until she got out and closed the door did Toni look up and realize that she’d arrived. “Hey,” she said, approaching the Serpent.

“Hey,” Toni answered. She took one more hit of her joint and then put it out, slipping it away. “Sorry. After the past few hours, I needed it.”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you once we’re sitting down.” Once they were seated, they ordered their usual, and their milkshakes were brought out very quickly. As she took a sip of her pink shake, she looked at Toni expectantly. “Okay, so, the ritualistic goodbye thing was sort of BS. It was basically just a normal Serpent meeting, but the people closest to Felicity got to say public goodbyes. But, damn, it’s like Sweet Pea said earlier, some of the older Serpents were so terrible to her for leaving. They kept saying things about seeing her soon, and how she’s just gonna go blow all her cash and come back looking to rejoin. FP even tried to shut some of them up by reminding them that she wasn’t _resigning_ from the Serpents, and that she’s always welcome back. But she knows that if she comes back, she’s going to get shit from those guys.”

Cheryl frowned. “I’m sorry. Was Felicity upset?”

“Not really,” Toni admitted.

“Then why are you so upset?” Cheryl tilted her head, and Toni let out a sigh.

“It was just annoying,” Toni said, but Cheryl got the feeling that there was more too it than that. “Whatever, I don’t want to think about it. What were you up to?”

“Veronica, Betty, and I went shopping,” Cheryl answered, “for your new room.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, right. So, did you pick out all my decorations?”

“Yes, but I didn’t get too much, don’t worry. Just the basics. A rug, curtains, bedding, a lamp, and a table runner for your dresser. It’s not a lot,” Cheryl assured her. “I just… want you to feel at home in your new room. I know it’s been a while since you could really feel at home somewhere.”

Toni’s lips curved in a small smile. “That’s really sweet. Thank you.”

“Of course,” Cheryl replied. “I think you’re going to like the color scheme. I’m excited to help you move in tomorrow.”

“I’m excited too,” Toni agreed, “it is going to be crazy to get a room to myself. And it’s actually going to be nice sharing a bathroom with Fangs. He’s surprisingly very neat. I think Felicity groomed him that way.”

Cheryl smiled. “That’s good.”

“So, what’d you do after shopping?”

“Went back to Veronica’s, the three of us just hung out and watching TV and stuff,” Cheryl answered.

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Wow, I’m impressed, Red.”

“With what?” Cheryl demanded, furrowing her eyebrows. “The fact that I hung out with my friends?”

Toni smiled softly. “Sorry, I just meant… a couple months ago, you didn’t even think you could have fun without Heather being there. And now, yesterday you had dinner with Sweets and Fangs and Felicity, and today you hung out with Betty and Veronica…”

“Yeah, yeah, you were right back then. I never needed her to have fun,” Cheryl gave in.

“That’s right.”

Their food was brought out then, and Toni dug in, clearly very hungry, so their conversation dwindled. But it was still nice, just to sit here and enjoy a meal with Toni, Cheryl’s _girlfriend_. She still wasn’t quite sure she’d wrapped her head around the fact that she and Toni were official, even though she’d admitted it to Jason earlier. She hadn’t mentioned anything to Betty or Veronica. There wasn’t any specific reason that she didn’t mention it, she just hadn’t thought to say anything.

But it was as they ate, just sitting with the quiet between them, that Cheryl felt it hit her. This was her new normal, _officially_. Dinners with Toni, nights out and nights in. She never needed an excuse to see her, never needed any sort of justification. She was Toni’s, and Toni was hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is making so much progress in spending time with her friends and everything ahh! What do you guys think is going on in Toni's head about Felicity moving, and everyone's reactions to it? Let me know what you thought! Also come join me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and see if I'm still doing the Periscope when you finish reading this!!! <3 I appreciate you all so much, I'll see you again tomorrow!! <3


	22. a place where i can go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl helps Toni get settled in Felicity's old room in the Fogarty trailer and the room gets properly christened, and then later, Cheryl has a run in with her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! Sorry this chapter is coming out a bit late tonight. I was watching the last 2 episodes of OITNB (finally finished it omgggg) and then I realized I needed to study a lot more than I thought I needed to for an exam I have tomorrow oof. So I was cramming for that and only just now got the chance to update.  
> This chapter isn't super long, but there's some good stuff in it and also some stuff that will lay groundwork for more things that are coming.  
> Thank you to everyone who came and joined the Periscope yesterday! It was so fun to talk to some of y'all and get to know you all better, and we all fangirled about lots of shows and ships, it was a good time!  
> Without further ado, though, please enjoy chapter 22 <3

Cheryl woke up smelling vanilla and a hint of weed. She never would’ve expected that combination of scents to calm her, bringing a small smile to her lips even as her eyes remained closed. She cuddled up next to Toni, feeling the girl wrap her arms around her as she let out a little, sleepy groan.

The room was silent, no phone calls or alarms blaring. It was peaceful, and Cheryl could easily drift off again.

She didn’t though, her mind instead wandering to the previous night. They’d gone back to Thornhill after dinner at Pop’s, and holed up in Cheryl’s bedroom. Toni told her more about Felicity’s going away event at the Wyrm, and talked about how she and Felicity had actually been a lot closer when they were younger, pretty good friends even. How Toni had always looked up to the other girl, always wanted to copy her. It seemed to Cheryl that Felicity had been really important to Toni, so she knew that she must be more sad about Felicity leaving than she was letting on.

So Cheryl had done her best to distract her girlfriend, and they’d spent the night alternating between making out, talking, and just laying together, limbs intertwined and feeling unbelievably relaxed. At some point, they’d opened the window in Cheryl’s room and took a couple hits from Toni’s joint. And then, once they got pretty tired, they’d curled up together, and fallen asleep.

And now here they were, Sunday morning, and Cheryl realized all of the sudden that Toni was getting to move into her new room today. That was enough to fully wake her up, and she found her eyes opening and her body tugging slightly away from Toni. She looked at the sleeping Serpent lying next to her, her hair a mess around her and her features relaxed. “Toni,” she whispered, getting no answer from her girlfriend. A little louder, she repeated, “Hey, Toni.”

Toni groaned. “What?”

“Wake up,” Cheryl coaxed gently, “it’s an exciting day today.”

“No,” Toni mumbled, pulling the covers up over part of her face, her eyes still closed.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you excited to move in today?”

That got Toni’s eyes to finally open up. “Oh, yeah.” Cheryl smiled, and Toni rolled onto her back, wiping at her eyes sleepily. “What time is it?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Cheryl answered, rolling over to grab their phones from her nightstand. She handed Toni’s to her and clicked the button on the side of hers to check the time. “A little after nine.”

“Yeah,” Toni mumbled, looking at her phone too. “Why are we already awake? It’s Sunday.”

“I just woke up,” Cheryl answered, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Toni, I’ll make you breakfast.”

“What’re you gonna make?” Toni wondered, setting her phone down and curling into Cheryl all of the sudden, her eyes falling closed again. Cheryl sighed, her hand coming to Toni’s hair and playing with it gently.

“Eggs?” Cheryl offered, getting a nod from Toni. “Bacon, too?” Another nod. “If I get up and start cooking for you, will you wake up when it’s ready?”

“Mmhmm,” Toni agreed.

“Okay, fine,” Cheryl said, starting to pull away from the girl.

“Wait,” Toni whined, wrapping her arms around Cheryl, “just one more minute.”

Cheryl couldn’t fight the smile that came to her face. She would have never guessed that Toni would be so clingy and adorable in the morning, at least when she didn’t have anywhere to be urgently.

It took Cheryl about fifteen minutes to get out of bed, go to the bathroom, brush her teeth, and get dressed, and then she was finally able to head downstairs to cook breakfast for her girlfriend. She knew that Toni had had an emotional day yesterday, and she figured that that was what was largely contributing to how sleepy she was.

She scrambled them some eggs and pan seared some bacon, made two plates, grabbed forks and napkins, and then headed back up to her room.

When she got there, Toni was awake, sitting up in the bed on her phone. “Good morning, sleepy head,” Cheryl teased, closing the door behind her.

Toni looked up at Cheryl with a grateful smile. “Morning. Thank you for making breakfast, I really shouldn’t have let you do that for me.”

“Why not?” Cheryl demanded, sitting on her bed and passing the second plate to Toni. “I didn’t mind, really. I know you had an emotional day yesterday.”

“Well… thanks. Just, you let me stay here two nights in a row, and you bought decorations for my room yesterday…” Toni trailed off, and Cheryl now understood.

“Oh,” Cheryl said, trying to think about this from Toni’s perspective instead of her own.

“You know what, it’s fine,” Toni assured her, “just… let me repay you okay? With… a date. Next weekend.” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow, curious. “On Friday, because I’m scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday next weekend.”

“Okay,” Cheryl agreed, “sounds good to me.”

Toni smiled, and then they dug in to their breakfast.

It was about an hour later that the two of them were actually ready to start the day, both of their faces all made up and both of them dressed. Toni borrowed some of Cheryl’s makeup, sans a few things like foundation, of course, and a tank top as well. Then they were ready to head over to Sunnyside and move Toni’s stuff from Sweet Pea’s trailer to Fangs’.

“So, what all did you buy me again?” Toni wondered, as they headed downstairs. “And you never told me the color scheme.”

“You’ll see when we set it up,” Cheryl insisted. She was about to add something else, but as they reached the main floor, Penelope Blossom was suddenly coming up to them, causing Cheryl’s expression to steel over.

“Well, if it isn’t my disobedient, always absent, daughter,” Penelope said harshly, “I swear I’ve only seen you a handful of times in _weeks_.”

“Have you ever considered, Mumsie, that that’s intentional on my end?” Cheryl snapped. “Move out of our way, we were just leaving.”

“I cannot believe you had the audacity to bring this filth back into our home,” Penelope snapped. “When your father hears about this—”

“He’ll what?” Cheryl demanded. “All of your threats are empty, mother. Now if you’ll excuse me, my _girlfriend_ and I have somewhere to be.”

“What—” Penelope couldn’t even seem to finish her own sentence, her jaw dropping as she realized what Cheryl had said. Heart pounding, but with every intention of escaping anymore of her mother’s insults, she grabbed Toni’s hand and pulled her around Penelope, and hurried them both outside.

“Hurry, we need to leave before she gets any ideas,” Cheryl told the Serpent, “I’ll meet you at Fangs’?”

“Yeah, see you there,” Toni agreed, and they shared one quick peck before splitting up, Cheryl slipping into her car and Toni climbing onto her motorcycle. As Toni sped off and Cheryl began following her, the front door opened and Penelope stepped outside yelling and demanding that Cheryl come back at once. Of course, Cheryl ignored her, and promptly drove away.

Her heart was still pounding as she drove, knowing that her mother must be absolutely infuriated by finding out that Toni was Cheryl’s girlfriend. She was, perhaps, more angry at Cheryl than she’d ever had before, and admittedly, Cheryl was a little worried about what her entire reaction would be.

When she finally drove into Sunnyside and toward Fangs’ trailer, she did her best to push out any thoughts of her mother, and parked her car. Toni seemed to be inside already, her motorcycle sitting next to Fangs’.

Cheryl got out of the car and gathered up everything she’d bought the previous day, before going up to the trailer and knocking on the door. She heard a muffled “come in!” and then let herself in.

“Hey, Red,” Fangs greeted her.

“Is Toni not here?” Cheryl wondered, glancing around.

“She just walked over to Sweet Pea’s to get all her clothes and stuff,” Fangs answered. “You need help with that stuff?”

“I’ve got it,” Cheryl insisted, walking down the little hallway over to Toni’s room, where she set the bags down. Fangs followed her to the room.

“So, you got Toni all this stuff?”

Cheryl glanced at him wearily. “Yeah. Just since she hasn’t had a real place to call home in a while. I wanted this place to feel… safe. You know?”

“That’s pretty nice of you.” He nodded approvingly. “You seem good for her, you know. She seems… _brighter_ now, especially when she’s with you.”

“Really?” Cheryl asked, her heart skipping a beat.

“Really,” he assured her. “I’m glad she finally has someone else in her life, someone who isn’t, like, one of the guys, if that makes sense. We all try to have her back, but we don’t always _get it_ , if you know what I mean. And especially with Felicity moved out now… Toni is lucky to have you.”

Cheryl felt a smile come to her face. “Thank you, Fangs.”

He laughed a little. “You are welcome, Cheryl.” Cheryl rolled her eyes, opening up the bag of sheets and blankets and things. “Do you need any help in here?”

“No, I’ve got it, thanks though.”

“Alright, I’m gonna hop in the shower then—I pretty much just woke up.”

“Do all you Serpents sleep in on Sundays?”

He snorted. “What else do you expect us to do, go to church and Sunday brunch?” He turned around and disappeared into the bathroom. Cheryl shook her head in amusement, and began setting up Toni’s room.

She managed to finish, too, before Toni got back. The white sheets, lavender comforter, and blue pillows and blankets and bed skirt made up the bed, and matching blue curtains hung over the window. The table runner went over the dresser, the rug spread in the middle of the room, and the lamp sat on the nightstand. The whole room tied together, if she did say so herself.

She sat on the edge of the bed as she waited for Toni to arrive, and after a few minutes, the door to the trailer opened, and Toni came in with her duffle and backpack. “Hey,” Toni called, “sorry, I figured I should just go get my stuff so that then we could do everything at—” She froze as she entered the room, looking around at everything. “Whoa. You already did all this…”

“Well, I figured I should be doing something while I was waiting,” Cheryl reasoned. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered, a grin coming to her face. “I do. You picked a good color scheme. Thank you.” She flashed Cheryl a grateful smile, and then dropped her duffel and backpack.

“Do you want me to help with that?” Cheryl asked, as the Serpent unzipped the bags.

“No, I’ve got it,” Toni insisted, “you can just keep sitting there and looking pretty.”

Cheryl knew where the comment was going as soon as Toni started saying it, but, still, a slight warmth rose to her cheeks. She tried to cover it up with an eyeroll, but Toni wasn’t looking at her anyway, focused on putting her clothes into her dresser. “Was Noah sad to see you go?”

Toni chuckled. “Yeah, but I had to remind him that I’m literally a minute walk away, and then he was more okay with it.” Cheryl scooted back on Toni’s newly made bed, leaning against the pillows at the head, and watched as Toni put away her stuff.

“How old do kids have to be before they become a Serpent?” Cheryl wondered.

Toni shrugged. “It’s kind of different depending on the situation. I told you that girls can do the initiation anytime between sixteen and eighteen and still technically be in the gang until then. For guys, the age is a little younger. If they are a legacy Serpent, like Sweets or Noah, they can do their initiation at fourteen at the earliest. And if they haven’t done it by sixteen, they’re sort of like… forced to do it, or else they risk getting kicked out. But whenever someone joins, they need to do the initiation pretty much immediately. Like Jughead did. And usually, unless you’re a legacy Serpent or in a really shitty situation, you can’t join until you’re about fourteen or fifteen.”

“It seems so complicated,” Cheryl noted.

Toni shrugged, laughing a little. “We don’t get many new members very often. Maybe a couple of times a year, someone will show up wanting to be in the gang, but usually they’re in their twenties, after some plan A they had failed.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

Toni glanced over at Cheryl. “Why so many questions, Bombshell?”

“Just curious,” Cheryl answered. “Noah just seems so young. I can’t picture him wearing a Serpent jacket.”

Toni smiled, going back to putting away her clothes, and said, “I remember when I got my jacket. I probably would’ve gotten my mom’s or my dad’s, if they’d stuck around, but my uncle threw out all of their Serpent stuff when he got custody of me. By the time I’d crashed at Sweet Pea’s a few times, his dad asked me why I didn’t have my jacket yet, and I told him I thought I wasn’t old enough yet. He said that was bullshit, there wasn’t any point in making me wait till I was sixteen to just get a jacket, and he brought me to FP and a few days later, I had a shiny new Serpent jacket.”

Cheryl smiled a little as well, trying to picture a smaller version of Toni, probably with undyed brown hair, putting on her Serpent jacket for the first time. “And you got your Serpent tattoo after doing your initiation? When you turned sixteen?”

“Yep.”

“When do you turn eighteen?”

Toni glanced over at Cheryl. “A couple months from now. In June.”

“Are you excited?”

“I guess? It doesn’t really mean much, honestly, considering… everything.”

Cheryl nodded slowly. “Right, yeah.”

“When do you turn eighteen?” Toni asked back, glancing at her girlfriend again and lifting an eyebrow.

“September.”

Toni nodded. “Cool, so I have time to save up for a gift for you,” she said, her tone obviously joking. Cheryl wanted to argue that Toni didn’t need to get her any gift, but she decided to stay quiet, since it wasn’t like it was coming up any time soon. “Are _you_ excited to be eighteen?”

“Yeah, so I can officially be on my own, definitely. But, for Jason it means a lot more than for me,” Cheryl admitted. Toni gave her a confused look, so she further explained, “You know, he was the one they wanted. But they got us both. If we’d both been boys, there would’ve been some extra process to determine who was going to get to inherit everything, but since I’m a girl, well, I bet you can guess who’s next in line for the maple syrup business.”

“That sucks,” Toni said, frowning. “So you don’t get anything?”

“No, I do get a claim to the business, so to speak. I’ll be next up to inherit it until Jason has kids. I’ll get a certain percent of the profits as well, as all Blossoms do. So at least there will be a flow of income from there, basically indefinitely, as long as I don’t get disowned,” Cheryl answered, “which, now that I’ve said it, does seem like a possibility.”

“You really think your parents would disown you?”

Cheryl shrugged. “No, probably not. If they did, it would be admitting that they’d done something wrong in raising me. At least, that’s how they would think it would look. My extended family would look down on them for failing to raise a child worth staying in the family. If that makes sense.”

“Your family sounds like they literally came from medieval Europe,” Toni commented, closing her dresser drawers, seeming to be finished emptying her duffle.

“Don’t they?” Cheryl agreed. Toni set her empty duffle and her backpack on top of her dresser, and then turned to again face Cheryl. “So, how does it feel? Having your own room again?”

Toni grinned. “Feels great. I’m especially excited to be able to do one thing in particular.” Cheryl raised an eyebrow, and Toni turned around and closed the door, locking it pointedly. Cheryl felt her heart rate spike, biting the inside of her lip.

“What’s that?” Cheryl heard, more than felt, herself ask, and Toni slipped her shoes off, then crawling onto the bed. As she began to straddle her lap, Cheryl slipped her own shoes off of her feet, hearing them topple onto the floor, and placed her hands on Toni’s waist as their lips met.

Cheryl could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, Toni’s lips and tongue slowly kissing her. Instantly, Cheryl’s body was awake, her center pulsing, wanting a touch, and her skin tingling. How Toni could so instantly affect her this way, Cheryl wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling that she was beginning to crave it.

Her hands slid up underneath Toni’s shirt, gripping her waist firmly and pulling her even more against her. Toni hummed in response, her hands tangling into Cheryl’s hair.

Suddenly, everything began to get faster and hotter, and Cheryl and Toni were panting as they tore off each other’s clothes. Cheryl wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so… _primal_ before. Her only thought was that she needed Toni against her body, touching her, tasting her. Now that Cheryl was stripped of clothing, Toni crawled down her body, trailing wet kisses down, and stopping at her chest to suck hard at the skin on Cheryl’s right breast. Cheryl knew there was a mark there without even looking, but she couldn’t care less in this moment. She wove her fingers into Toni’s hair, pushing her head down further. Toni let out a low chuckle as her face finally lined up with Cheryl’s center.

Toni didn’t even hesitate, pressing her tongue against Cheryl’s clit and causing Cheryl’s hips to buck slightly, a gasp escaping her lips. As she made the sound, she remembered that Fangs was still here, and she shut her mouth, hoping she could keep it shut this whole time.

As Toni’s tongue continued to give attention to her clit, skilled fingers slipped easily into Cheryl, pulsing in and out and curling more and more every time. Cheryl’s body didn’t know how to react, she arched her back, trying so hard to hold in any noises but not even sure if she was succeeding.

Finally, Cheryl felt herself just seconds from coming and she bit down on her lower lip, and then suddenly, they heard the front door of the trailer open, and Sweet Pea’s voice calling, “Fangs? Toni?”

Toni’s fingers froze for a second, getting an instant whimper from Cheryl, and then Toni let out a breath and resumed what she was doing. Cheryl came almost instantly, her hand jumping up to her mouth and pressing hard over it, trying not to let any sound out.

“Hey,” they heard Fangs said, “I think Toni and Cheryl are in her room…”

Cheryl felt Toni pull her fingers out of her, and she watched Toni scramble up, suddenly tossing clothes at Cheryl. Cheryl looked over to her, seeing a grin on her face. “Why are you smiling like that?” Cheryl demanded, her breath still heavy and fast.

“It’s funny,” Toni answered.

Cheryl rolled her eyes, not even getting another second to recover before slipping on her underwear and the rest of her clothes. Toni was dressed in a matter of moments, and as soon as Cheryl was too, she unlocked the door and walked out into the living room, while Cheryl stood up and left behind her.

Fangs and Sweet Pea were both there looking at them, the former with a smirk on his face. “Couldn’t wait more than ten minutes?” he asked, looking mostly at Toni. Cheryl felt redness come to her cheeks.

“Um, I’m going to use the bathroom…” Cheryl murmured, turning around and slipping into the little bathroom.

She could hear the conversation happening in the living room as she sat on the toilet. “So this is what I should get used to then?” Fangs asked, sounding amused.

“Yep,” Toni answered, “and I’ll get used to hearing you and Joaquin hook up.”

“Touché, I guess…”

“Can we see what Cheryl did with your room, or is it totally defiled?” Sweet Pea asked.

Cheryl flushed the toilet and began to wash her hands as Toni answered him, “It’s fine, come on and look.” Done washing her hands, Cheryl exited the bathroom, and followed the group into the bedroom.

“You like it?” Cheryl asked the boys as they looked around.

“It’s surprisingly girly,” Sweet Pea reflected.

“It’s not _that_ girly,” Cheryl argued, wondering if Toni thought of it that way.

Toni chuckled. “It’s just purple, Sweet Pea. Stop gendering colors.”

“Personally, I love it,” Fangs said, “it matches Toni’s hair.”

Cheryl smiled a little, looking at Toni’s hair. It was a bit messy, and Cheryl knew from looking in the mirror a moment ago that hers wasn’t really neat right now either. “Well, I’m glad you like it,” Cheryl said. “Betty, Veronica, and I picked all the stuff out yesterday.”

“I really want to feel the bedding—it looks soft,” Sweet Pea started, “but knowing what just went on in here, I think it’s best we go back to the living room.”

Toni rolled her eyes, playfully shoving Sweet Pea and Fangs both out of the room, and the four of them went to the living room. “So, we drinking to celebrate, or what?” Toni asked.

“Thankfully, my sister was nice enough to help me stock up on beers before she left!” He opened up the fridge, pulling out four beers and passing them around. “To Toni moving in!”

“Cheers!”

* * *

Cheryl went back to Thornhill a little while later. She knew that Toni needed a little bit of time to settle, and that they both had school the next morning, so she’d driven home a few hours after the one beer she’d had. She got a kiss and a promise that, if not earlier, Toni would definitely see her on Friday, for the date she was going to plan.

As Cheryl parked her car in front of Thornhill, she thought back to the fact that Toni was going to plan a date for her, and smiled to herself. She was, perhaps, turning into mush more and more since she and Toni started sort of dating. And now that they were official, and Cheryl had been graced with the full beauty that was Toni Topaz, she was sure that she was well into the mush stage now.

The smile was wiped off of her face, however, when she entered her house to see her mother waiting for her, leaning against the wall and just staring at Cheryl, as if she’d been staring in that exact spot since Cheryl had left earlier. “Mother,” Cheryl greeted coldly, attempting to take a step toward the staircase. However, Penelope swiftly sidestepped, blocking her path.

“We need to talk, Cheryl,” Penelope snapped. “Come, sit.” She started into the living room, and Cheryl let out a breath in exasperation, giving in and following her. Penelope took a seat in one of the chairs, and Cheryl sat down on the couch, meeting her mother’s eyes bravely.

“What?” she demanded.

“Your behavior recently has been… abhorrent. The Blossoms live up to a standard of _excellence_ , and your recent choice of company falls far beneath any associate of someone of your standard,” Penelope explained. “I, therefore, must insist that whatever _relationship_ you claim to have with that Serpent scum end _immediately_.”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes. “Well, mother, _I_ must insist that you stay out of my business. My relationship with Toni in no way affects you or father. It is _my_ business.”

“As you are my daughter, _Cheryl_ , your business _is_ my business,” Penelope growled. “I have always known that you were… strange and deviant. But this… this is entirely perverted and… unforgiveable. However, I am your mother, and I would be willing to forgive your horrible sins if you swear to end them now.”

Cheryl clenched her jaw. “Unfortunately, Mumsie, I am not prepared to do that.” She stood up. “Have a lovely night.”

“I suggest you get prepared then,” Penelope said loudly, even as Cheryl began to walk out of the room, “because this will not be the last you hear of it!”

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t be!” Cheryl yelled back, rolling her eyes. She slipped upstairs and hurried toward her room. She felt rage filling her up, wanting to scream and shout at her mother. When she reached her room, she practically slammed her door, then locked it, and let out a noise of frustration.

Her phone buzzed suddenly from her pocket, and she tried to calm down, sitting down on her little couch and pulling the device out.

**JJ – Hey, you okay?**

**Cheryl – Oh, you know, just dealing with dear mother’s disapproval.**

**JJ – I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?**

**Cheryl – No, probably not. Thanks, though.**

**JJ – Let me know if you need anything, Cher.**

**Cheryl – Okay.**

Sighing, and feeling less like she was going to explode, she switched over to her messages with Toni.

**Cheryl – Made it home. My mother is being horrible.**

**Toni – Are you okay??**

**Cheryl – Yeah. I managed to get out of talking to her any more than a handful of minutes. But she’s angry, I can tell. Hopefully a little bit of time will cool her down. Usually, lying low for a while helps.**

**Toni – Hope it doesn’t take long. I’m sorry, babe.**

**Cheryl – Me too, thanks. No need to be sorry, though, you didn’t do anything.**

**Toni – Isn’t she mad because of us, though?**

**Cheryl – That’s not your fault.**

**Toni – I know… but I’m sorry she’s so horrible.**

**Cheryl – It’s okay. She’s an absolute monster, but fortunately, I’m used to it. I’ll manage.**

**Toni – I know. But I’ve got your back, babe.**

**Cheryl – I know. Thank you :)**

**Toni – Of course <3**

Cheryl let out another breath, finally feeling relaxed. Her mother was a problem, as per usual, but not one that she couldn’t deal with. She’d be fine, she just needed to lay low, like she’d told Toni. It would pass.

Sighing, and leaning back into her couch cushions, she thought about the next weekend—that’s all she needed to do. Think about next weekend, and let the promise of good get her through the rough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof Penelope Blossom is truly a nightmare.  
> This weekend I actually made good progress on the Toni POV story, although it's going to take a long time, I'm pretty sure, oof. I really hope that I will have a lot of time to work on it, but making time for writing it somehow even harder now that I'm home all the time, because home time doesn't necessarily equate to free time. Ugh!  
> Thank you all for spending some of your time today reading this update. I sincerely hope you all are doing well despite everything going on in the world right now. Please know that my Twitter DMs are always open (unless I don't follow you, in which case please tweet at me to follow you back and then they will be open!) and you are always welcome to message me if you need to talk. I hope this story is able to provide some sort of distraction for you all <3  
> I will see you all on Thursday - wish me luck, I have two tests this week to get through, bleh! Haha, see you all Thursday!


	23. that night in the park, it was getting dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni have their date, and things start to escalate more with Cheryl's parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening everyone! Sorry I didn't post this earlier - as I mentioned on Twitter, I spent the day studying for an exam I had a couple hours ago, and thankfully I did really well on it! Time for a well deserved break haha. So I made dinner and I just finished eating so it's update time!  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter <3 Please take a moment to read my end note afterward! xx

“So how was moving Toni into the trailer?” Veronica asked curiously at lunch on Monday.

“It was good,” Cheryl answered, “she really liked the room set up.”

“I heard that you and Toni had a _lot_ of fun moving her in,” Jughead said, snickering.

Cheryl felt her cheeks turn red as she glared at him. “Sweet Pea and Fangs need to shut their mouth.”

“Ooh,” Veronica said with interest, her eyebrows shooting up, “so you and Toni are… _intimate_ now?” Cheryl knew that her face must be completely red now.

“Oh my god, V,” Betty said, shaking her head, “leave her alone.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Veronica apologized, grinning. “I’m just happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Cheryl said, trying to mentally shake off the embarrassment of getting called out. “ _Anyway_.”

“So,” Betty began to change the conversation, to Cheryl’s relief, “pep rally Friday. I think it’ll be good to finally be cheering for something again. I miss football season.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why the coaches didn’t let us cheer for basketball this semester,” Veronica said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Archie piped in, “Oh, apparently at the start of the semester, the Southside High cheerleading squad got disbanded, so they didn’t want to have just one squad of cheerleaders at the games. The district just said no cheerleaders at any basketball games.”

“Lame,” Veronica said with a frown.

Cheryl hummed. “I wonder if they’ll get a squad back together before next football season.”

“I doubt it,” Jughead said, “they’ve been having all sorts of cuts, left and right. That’s the only reason my dad isn’t making me go there ever since we moved to Sunnyside freshman year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the football team ended up getting cut too, to be honest.”

“Really?” Cheryl asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Jughead answered, “some of the Serpent guys are really bummed out about it all.”

“Well, we would be too if that was happening to us,” Veronica justified. “That really sucks.”

“Good afternoon, imbeciles,” a voice suddenly snapped, drawing all of their gazes. Heather, flanked by two other Vixens, stood at the end of their table, glaring at all of them.

“What the hell do you want?” Veronica snapped back.

“Trust me, I don’t want to be talking to you right now either,” Heather insisted. “However, as chair of the prom committee, it’s my responsibility to remind you all that in a few short weeks, we will be having our junior prom.”

“And you couldn’t make that announcement to the whole cafeteria?” Cheryl asked, annoyed.

“Actually,” Heather said, making direct eye contact with Cheryl, her lips forming a completely fake smile, “I was just wanting to make sure that you were all aware that _only_ students from Riverdale High are allowed to be in attendance. So, uh, no snake-backed idiots from the other side of the tracks, if you know what I mean.”

Jughead sat up straighter suddenly, his eyes narrowing. “You got anything else to say about people who live on the _other side of the tracks_?”

Heather gave him a bored look, and then looked back at Cheryl. “You’ve stooped so much lower than I ever thought you could,” she said flatly. “You think these people have your back like I used to? It won’t last long. Sooner or later, you’ll realize that they all want something from you.”

“Shut up,” Cheryl hissed. “You spent years using me.”

Heather scoffed, shaking her head. “I _made_ you, Cheryl.”

“Give it up, Heather,” Veronica interrupted finally, “we don’t want you here. Go make your stupid prom announcements somewhere else.”

Heather just sniffed, and stalked away from the table. Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I was hoping the drama would’ve died by now.”

“What are you going to do about prom?” Betty wondered.

Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t know if Toni would even want to go.”

“I mean, that’s something to consider, of course,” Betty said, “but I’m pretty sure everyone in junior year is expecting prom royalty to either be you or Heather. But you can’t win without a date.”

Cheryl blinked. Prom royalty hadn’t crossed her mind in months, in fact, the last time she’d mentioned it had been right after the holiday break. Heather had taken over the topic, talking dreamily about how she couldn’t wait to be crowned queen. Perhaps it hadn’t bothered Cheryl because she’d hoped that, somehow, she would end up on that stage with Heather, both of them getting crowned. But now, remembering the conversation awoke anger inside her.

“Well, maybe we’ll have to figure out how to screw over Heather’s date as well,” Cheryl said, then effectively ending the conversation as she finally returned to eating her lunch.

* * *

For the rest of the school week, Cheryl tried asking around to see if she could figure out who Heather was planning on going to prom with, but nobody seemed to know. Not even Jason knew, which meant it couldn’t have been one of the Bulldogs, unless one of them was keeping the secret very well. And the football players weren’t really known for their discretion.

So by the end of the week, it was seeming like Cheryl would need to go to further lengths to deal with prom. It would have to wait, though, because Friday afternoon was the pep rally at the end of the school day, and then she had her date with Toni.

They’d gotten to see each other a couple of times after school throughout the week. Toni came to Thornhill one of the times, and the other time, they met up at Pop’s. Cheryl wanted to be careful with Toni coming over, making sure that her mother was definitely off of the property to avoid any more unwanted confrontations.

Even though Cheryl had thankfully gotten to see Toni during the week, she was beyond excited for her date with Toni. They hadn’t had very many planned-in-advance dates, and Cheryl was excited to see what Toni had come up with, especially considering how little there was to do in Riverdale, north or south.

The pep rally was pretty boring. The senior and junior prom committees made the announcement about the upcoming dance, listing off some of the rules—such as that all attendees had to be from Riverdale High. Then, the coaches made announcements about the sports teams. The band played some music and the Vixens did some cheering, and then school dismissed.

Veronica caught up with Cheryl in the locker room after they’d both changed into their regular clothes. “So, got any plans for today, considering we don’t even have practice?”

“Actually yes,” Cheryl answered. “Toni is taking me on a date.”

“Ooh, where?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t actually know. She’s planning the whole thing. It’s a surprise, I guess.”

Veronica grinned. “Aww, that’s so sweet! I’m totally living vicariously through your relationship with Toni. It’s adorable.” Cheryl smiled funny, laughing a little.

“I thought you weren’t even looking for a relationship?”

Veronica shrugged. “While I do think that high school boys are too immature, it doesn’t mean I don’t miss having a relationship.”

“So what about Archie? You’ve never given a straight answer when asked about him,” Cheryl insisted, and Betty suddenly appeared next to them as well.

“Yeah, Veronica,” she said teasingly, “what about _Archie_?”

Cheryl realized that there was something Betty knew that she didn’t, and she looked curiously at Veronica, who sighed. “Okay, yeah, Archie and I hooked up a couple of times. But… Archie and I have very different dreams. He wants to stay in Riverdale, _literally forever_ , and carry on his father’s business. I completely respect that. But I know if we dated, I would fall in love with him, and then I would move away for college, and it would be horribly depressing. I wasn’t built for long distance.”

“So you’re basing whether you date him on what’s going to happen in over a year?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Veronica shrugged. “I know it’s probably stupid. Believe me, while we were hooking up, I seriously wanted to and almost did commit to him. But then we talked about things, and we decided it’s safer to stay as friends.”

“I mean, it is your decision,” Cheryl said, “as long as you’re happy. That’s what matters.”

Veronica grinned. “Aw, that was really sweet, Cher.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Come on, B and I will walk you to your car—you have to get going so you can get ready for your surprise date!”

“Ooh, Toni planned you a surprise date?” Betty asked excitedly, as the three of them walked out of the locker room.

A couple hours later found Cheryl all ready for her date, sitting downstairs in the living room of Thornhill. Her eyes were trained on her phone—she was just waiting for Toni to pick her up. She was wearing tight, high waisted, black shorts with tan tights underneath, and a red blouse tucked into said shorts. She was also wearing red heels, and to top it off, her leather jacket and her classic red lipstick.

She heard her parents walking into the living room, not even needing to look up. “Cheryl,” Clifford said, surprisingly fondly, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh yes, dear,” Penelope told him, “Cheryl’s been spending an _awfully_ abundant amount of time in certain other places around town.”

Clifford cleared his throat. “What places do you mean?”

Cheryl finally looked up to see her mother glaring at her, and Clifford looking between them in confusion. So her mother hadn’t exposed her and her girlfriend to her father yet, which was maybe a good sign. Or perhaps, Penelope had been waiting for this exact opportunity to expose her, with both necessary parties present.

“I couldn’t possibly guess what she means, father,” Cheryl answered, looking at her mother pointedly. “Nothing she says every makes sense to me anymore. Are you quite sure she’s doing okay?”

“You brat,” Penelope snapped. “Do you hear what sort of disrespectful menace our daughter is becoming, Cliff?”

He sighed. “I see what you mean. Cheryl, would you mind joining us for dinner? I believe we have some things to discuss.”

“Like what?”

Penelope narrowed her eyes. “Like your new relationship with a _female_ _Southside Serpent_ , perhaps?” Clifford’s jaw dropped slightly, looking at Cheryl in surprise and disgust. Cheryl felt her chest tighten.

“Oh that?” she asked, trying to hide her own anxiety. “I don’t believe we need to discuss that. After all, it does not concern you in any way.”

“Cheryl Marjorie Blossom,” Clifford growled, “please explain yourself.”

Suddenly, Cheryl’s phone buzzed in her hand. Not looking down to check it, she pleaded that it be Toni texting her that she was here, and she stood up. “I’ll pass on that. I have plans.”

She turned and started out of the living room toward the front door, and heard her parents behind her. “Cheryl!” Clifford bellowed. “Stop this instant. You are _grounded_ , you may _not_ leave this house!” Cheryl said nothing in response, swinging open the front door and stomping out. Thankfully, Toni was there, her helmet off and her feet resting on the ground on either side of her bike. Cheryl tried to slam the door behind her, but her father caught it, and as he saw the motorcycle and Toni, he shouted, “What in the—”

“Cheryl Blossom!” Penelope interrupted him. “If you get on that motorcycle, there _will_ be hell to pay!”

Toni had noticed what was going on by now, and she already had her helmet back on, clearly ready to flee. She handed off Cheryl’s helmet as the girl quickly clambered on and buckled it, her parents taking a few more steps out of the house and closer to the two of them. “Drive!” Cheryl exclaimed as soon as the helmet was on. Toni obeyed, and Cheryl held on tight as they zoomed away from Thornhill.

Cheryl felt on the verge of tears—never before had she been so genuinely distressed by her parents. Usually, it was her mother giving her empty threats, and her father only rarely making snide or disappointed comments. But today it was different. Penelope exposed Cheryl while her father was right there. This was a new sort of tactic for Penelope, which meant that Cheryl couldn’t know what to expect at this point.

“Are you okay?” she heard Toni shout over the sound of the wind.

Cheryl just squeezed Toni even more tightly, not wanting to shout any answer, even if she did know whether she was okay or not.

She tried to relax as they rode, and it was only when Cheryl realized that they were seeming to drive out of the main areas of Riverdale that she finally felt herself start to relax. She focused on the smell of Toni’s soft hair, and the trees that were appearing more and more abundantly around them. She focused on the wind whipping through her hair, and on the steadying beat on her own heart.

And finally, when Toni began to slow down and Cheryl surveyed where they were, she smiled. They were somewhere where the forest met Sweetwater River, and by the edge of the water, there was a huge blanket spread out, and an adorable picnic set up.

“Oh, Toni…” Cheryl breathed out, in awe of the adorable set up.

Toni pulled to a stop, turning off the bike and pulling off her helmet as Cheryl unbuckled hers too. They got off of the bike, and Cheryl started over to the picnic. “You like it?” Toni asked from behind her.

“Yes,” Cheryl answered with a small smile. “How long were you planning this for?”

Toni laughed. “Uh, today?” Cheryl looked back at her girlfriend, who was smiling sheepishly. “I’m not so great at planning dates. Fangs helped a lot.”

“It’s really nice,” Cheryl assured her, and they both went to sit down on the blanket. “Where’d you get a picnic basket?”

Toni snickered and said, “Fangs and I asked around the trailer park until we found this older lady who had one I could borrow.” Cheryl smiled. “Thankfully, she didn’t even think it was weird of us to ask. Also, I wanted to bring wine, but I figured maybe this isn’t the best place to be drinking, especially if I’m going to be driving us back after. So I stuck with some sparkling cider.” She opened the picnic basket and pulled out said cider, and two plastic cups.

“That works for me.” So Toni poured them each a glass full, and Cheryl took a sip of the sweet juice.

“Hey,” Toni said softly, “what was happening earlier? That was your dad, right?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, “yeah, my mother decided it was a good time to tell him about… you and me. He got really upset. This is one of the few times my mother has ever followed up on a threat.”

Toni frowned. “Shit… I’m sorry. You could’ve texted me that you needed to reschedule or something.”

“There would’ve been no point. If I try to go along with them, to explain things and appeal to their good sides, I’ll only end up losing even worse. If I entertain them with dinners and discussions, I’ll have to open up to them, and they will see my weaknesses,” Cheryl answered sadly, “and if they see those, they will exploit them. It’s what us Blossoms do.”

“Not you,” Toni corrected. “You don’t do that.”

Cheryl managed a little smile at that. “I guess you’re right. I try not to be the way my parents are.”

“You do a great job not being the way your parents are,” Toni assured her. “Seriously!” Cheryl let out a little breath, trying to smile wider, but not feeling particularly happy. “Hey, that reminds me. This weekend or next weekend we should finally bring that bag of clothes you wanted to donate over to Sunnyside. I’ll let everyone know and anyone looking for new clothes can meet by the bonfire or something.”

Cheryl nodded. “Okay, that sounds good.”

“Hey,” Toni said softly, “don’t think about your parents, babe.”

“Maybe food will distract me,” Cheryl suggested, “what did you bring?”

“Only the best assortment for my girlfriend,” Toni said playfully, opening up the basket all of the way. “I wanted to be sure there were options. So, first, we have pizza!” Cheryl couldn’t help but crack a grin. “Next, some homemade ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches!”

“Ooh,” Cheryl oohed teasingly, “ahh.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Next, some Chinese takeout. And lastly, some Pop’s milkshakes!”

“I’ll take one of those,” Cheryl said with a grin, and Toni handed over a strawberry milkshake in a to-go cup.

“Sorry the food is pretty basic,” Toni apologized with a shrug, “I couldn’t do much better, unfortunately.”

“It’s exquisite, Toni,” Cheryl promised her. “No one has ever done something like this for me. The type of food couldn’t change how grateful I am that _you_ did.”

Toni smiled, playfully flipping some hair over her shoulder. “Well, what can I say?” Cheryl laughed, shaking her head at her girlfriend. They split up the food, and Cheryl decided to start with the pizza, with a side of orange chicken, while slurping down her milkshake. It was definitely one of the least fancy meals Cheryl had ever had, but it was oddly enjoyable to eat such different foods together.

The food, plus talking to Toni, was definitely a great distraction from everything happening with her parents. When they finished eating, they put the leftover food back in the picnic basket and sprawled out across the blanket side by side, looking up at the sky through the branches of the tall trees. It was about dusk now—not completely dark, but definitely getting there.

“Thank you for this, Toni,” Cheryl whispered.

“You’re welcome.”

“Would you mind if… if I stayed over at your place tonight?” Cheryl asked quietly.

“Would I mind?” Toni asked back with a little laugh. “Of course not.”

Cheryl smiled. “Thanks.”

“You’re always welcome at the trailer, Cher. You know that.”

Cheryl nodded, and Toni reached for her hand. Cheryl felt her skin tingle as Toni took it, and she smiled to herself, thinking about how her body always reacted to Toni’s touch. Toni was just… intoxicating, in every way.

“Maybe we should pack up and head back there before it gets too dark,” Toni suggested.

So they stood up, stuffed everything and the blanket into the picnic basket, and went back over to the bike. Toni showed Cheryl how she’d carried the basket out there, with some straps and ropes to hold the basket to the back of the motorcycle, and once it was all set up, it was off to Sunnyside they went.

Fangs greeted them brightly when they got there, then announcing that he’d actually been about to head over to Joaquin’s, so they gave him a goodbye and headed into Toni’s room.

As they walked in, Cheryl noticed a new addition to the room since the last time she’d been in it. Five photos of Cheryl, printed out on nice looking paper, were pinned up on the wall opposite the window. “Oh,” Cheryl whispered in surprise.

“Oh yeah,” Toni said, “I guess I forgot to tell you I was getting those printed.”

“How?” Cheryl asked in surprise.

“Actually, my art teacher thought they were so good that she offered to get it done for me. She said it was the least she could do, considering it’s the last year that class will even be offered,” Toni explained.

Cheryl looked at Toni in confusion. “It will be?”

“Yeah. They just announced this week that they’re cutting it. Honestly, it feels like pretty soon, Southside High will just be math, English, history, and science. Don’t even know how they’ll manage to keep students for a whole day at a time,” Toni muttered.

Cheryl frowned. “I’m sorry. Yeah, Jughead mentioned some of the cuts, but I didn’t realize art was getting cut.” Toni just shrugged.

“I mean, I probably wasn’t going to retake this class next year anyway, that would look weird on my transcript. But there were some other art classes I was considering, and those got cut too, so don’t know what my senior schedule is going to look like.” Cheryl didn’t know what to say, so she just walked over to the pictures to look at them more closely. She’d seen them on Toni’s computer, of course, but her girlfriend hadn’t ever ended up sending them to her, so she hadn’t seen them since.

“They look even better printed out,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re putting them here on your wall.”

“Well, I figured if I was going to be in possession of beautiful art in photograph form, I may as well display it.”

Cheryl felt a blush come to her cheeks, and she turned around to face her girlfriend, who was seated now on the bed. “You think you’re so smooth, don’t you?”

“I am smooth,” Toni answered matter-of-factly. Cheryl rolled her eyes, taking a step closer to the bed and leaning down to press her lips into a kiss with Toni’s. Toni kissed her back immediately, grabbing her waist and her hair with either hand and pulling her down while simultaneously twisting her own body. Somehow, the movement resulted in Cheryl having to climb on top of Toni, whose head was on the pillows. Cheryl pulled her lips away slightly to catch her breath. “See?” Toni murmured.

“Oh shut up,” Cheryl muttered back, pressing their lips into another kiss.

* * *

If there had been any shred of a thought left in Cheryl’s mind about her parents after the picnic, Friday night in Toni’s bed definitely wiped them out. She even woke up without a care in the world about her parents, about anything other than her girlfriend, who she curled up against happily, trying to fall back asleep.

Toni had to wake up pretty early, though, saying she had to do rounds. Cheryl groaned at that, and was about to mutter some complaint, until Toni told her that she was welcome to wait here for her to get back. That got a smile back on Cheryl’s face, and the redhead curled back up in Toni’s bed—alone—and waited for Toni to get back from her Serpent duties.

When she did get back, they decided to go stop by Thornhill so that Cheryl could get the bag of clothes to donate and, of course, her car to transport them. First, though, Cheryl texted Jason to be sure that their parents weren’t home, and once they’d confirmed that, they left. As they left, they asked Sweet Pea to get the word out that there were going to be some clothes up for grabs if anyone wanted to meet at the bonfire in about half an hour.

So when they returned, some mothers and young girls, and even some older women, about fifteen people in total, were gathering at the bonfire, and Cheryl and Toni brought the huge bag of clothes over. They opened it up, and let everyone begin to dig through it. Cheryl watched as they passed things around. The little girls looked especially excited when their mothers handed them something that was pretty, but definitely too big. But Cheryl remembered what Toni had said about it. The young girls were happy to get things that were too big for them, because they would probably grow into it.

Not a single item of clothing remained after everyone had gone through it. The women came up to Cheryl and thanked her, and she told them it was her pleasure.

Shortly after that, Toni had to go to work, so Cheryl kissed her goodbye and headed back to Thornhill, which recently was becoming her least favorite place to be.

* * *

Cheryl didn’t get to see Toni on Sunday, unfortunately. Her parents had come into her room on Saturday night and restated that she was grounded and was not to leave the house, and because Toni had rounds and work again on Sunday, Cheryl decided to attempt to appease them. She stayed in doing homework, texting on and off with Toni while the other girl wasn’t busy. She also got a text from Veronica, asking about her date with Toni, and they had a little gushing text session. It was nice to have someone to talk to about that sort of thing.

On Sunday night, when Toni got back from the Wyrm, she called Cheryl and they stayed up for a while talking. That’s when Cheryl finally mentioned the issues with prom to her girlfriend, and Toni seemed really angry at Heather for trying to target Cheryl in any way. She also didn’t seem _opposed_ to going to prom, and Cheryl found out that Southside High didn’t even get a prom, which in turn gave Cheryl some ideas for what she could do to deal with the situation.

At some point, they said goodnight and hung up, and Cheryl curled up in her bed and fell asleep. Sure, she was “grounded” and her parents were terrible, but most other things in her life seemed to be going okay.

* * *

The next morning, Cheryl woke up in a surprisingly good mood, texting Toni good morning, and began getting ready for the day. Once she was dressed and wearing her makeup, she headed downstairs to get a quick breakfast, and as she walked into the kitchen, her gaze landed on her mother, who was sitting at the breakfast table with another, older woman.

“Good morning, Cheryl,” Penelope said stiffly, “would you sit, please?”

“I need to make breakfast,” Cheryl answered, “so I can go to school?”

“Oh, you won’t be attending school today,” Penelope assured her, “please sit down.”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows, walking over to the table and standing behind one of the chairs instead of sitting. “What’s going on?”

“Cheryl,” the other woman said, her voice filled with the sort of too-sweet niceness that was obviously fake, “my name is Nancy Friedrich. I am the headmaster of a boarding school in Maine.”

Cheryl’s eyebrows jumped up. “Maine? What kind of boarding school? What the hell, mother?”

“Mrs. Friedrich,” Penelope said, “runs a school that… _specializes_ in dealing with your sort of issues.”

Cheryl’s heart rate picked up as she realized what her mother was referencing. “I don’t have any issues that need to be _dealt_ with.”

Nancy gave her a tight lipped smile. “Don’t worry, dearie. We are quick and precise about how we do things. Pretty soon, you will stop feeling the pull of the devil, and your temptations will all but disappear. We have dozens of success stories.”

Suddenly, Jason was walking into the kitchen, freezing as he realized that he was interrupting something. “Is… everything okay?” he asked.

“Buy yourself breakfast at school,” Penelope told him, “this doesn’t concern you, Jason.”

“Uh, what about Cheryl?”

“She won’t be going in today.”

Jason and Cheryl shared a look, and Cheryl wished that twin telepathy was real so that she could ask him not to leave. But he just blinked, turned around, and left the room. Cheryl looked back between her mother and this Nancy person. She let out a shaky breath. “I will not be going to Maine.”

“Sorry, dearie, but with what your mother has said, I don’t think it’s safe to wait any longer,” Nancy said firmly.

Cheryl began to reach for her phone, wondering how quickly she could send a text to Toni, but her mother immediately noticed, practically jumping up and snatching the device from her hand. “This will probably be useful in investigating how bad the issue is.” She handed the phone to Nancy while glaring at Cheryl, who all of the sudden felt truly helpless.

“Now,” Nancy said with another tight lipped smile, “how about you sit down, and we can discuss the arrangements and timeframe of your stay with us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY. SO. I read all of your comments on the previous chapter, and I realized a lot of you were going to probably be mad when you read this part - don't forget, I wrote this a while ago, so it's not like I could change anything haha. I wouldn't anyway, though. With risks of *minor spoilers* let me just say that this may not go the way you are expecting, and it will be nothing like what happened in the show, and also this is not the SoQM. With that in mind, what do you guys think is going to happen in the next chapter?  
> Lastly, I promise I didn't just write this in because I felt like it, this part of the story is an integral part to the remainder of the story. Please trust that I will take care of Cheryl and Toni <3  
> With all of that in mind - what do you think is going to happen in the next chapter?? <3 Please be kind with your comments, feel free to tweet at me @BrittzandTana! I will see you all on Sunday! <3 xx


	24. i look around and you're standing there

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter picks up from where the last chapter left off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! I wanted to thank all of you for the mostly positive and understanding comments on the previous chapter - and also the really sweet tweets and messages (you guys know who you are). I knew the previous chapter was going to be one of the most controversial ones, so I'm glad that we've gotten through it now haha.  
> Now, without further ado, please enjoy this chapter <3

Cheryl couldn’t process anything her mother or Nancy was discussing. Her heart was pounding, she could hear it in her head, and it was drowning out the words being said at the table. Her palms were sweating, and she was gripping the arms of the chair she was sitting at. She knew her breathing was uneven—she couldn’t get enough oxygen. She recognized this feeling, it was the same one from when she accidentally told Heather that she’d had a crush on her. It was that same feeling of panic and desperation.

She took in a deep breath. It had been about ten minutes, maybe more, of this discussion. At first, Nancy and Penelope had been talking about the timeline. Apparently, her mother hadn’t done much research about the place before calling Nancy to come out, so there were lots of questions to be asked. It was during those questions that Cheryl had begun to panic, but she knew that she needed to calm down. If she was going to get out of this somehow, she _needed_ to calm down.

Another deep breath, and now her thoughts were maybe able to follow a specific direction. They had her phone, so she couldn’t contact anyone. But did they have her car keys? Probably not, they’d been upstairs in Cheryl’s room, with her backpack. Had she brought her backpack down with her for breakfast? She couldn’t remember. She tried to subtly look around, but with what view she did have of the room, she couldn’t see her backpack anywhere. She must’ve left it in her room. There was no way that she could make it upstairs and back down to her car fast enough to escape.

She glanced back at Nancy. She could maybe take her down in a fight, but Nancy _plus_ her mother? That would be a bigger challenge. If she got ahold of her keys, she could probably do some real damage, but Cheryl wasn’t sure she could imagine herself actually following through with it. Her bedroom had a window. Could she get out through it? What was below her bedroom window? She couldn’t remember. She took another breath, trying to remember.

Some bushes, she decided, but not the kind that would really cushion her fall. She might still break something, and that would be useless, she would then be more at a disadvantage than she already was. She could lock herself in her bathroom, but somewhere, her mother had keys to all of the rooms. For _safety_ reasons, or something like that.

If she went straight for the front door, without her keys, she might be able to outrun her mother and Nancy, but they had cars they could climb into to chase after her. She let out a breath, feeling tears welling up in her eyes as she exhausted all of these options. She looked at the table. Her phone sat right next to Nancy’s hand, but Cheryl would have to reach over both of her hands to actually get to it. She couldn’t manage that fast enough.

She searched her mess of a mind, trying to find any solution, but she kept coming up blank. And then, Nancy and Penelope were scooting their chairs out from under the table, and standing up, and Cheryl heard Nancy demand, “Well? Get up.” Cheryl didn’t move, and her mother grabbed her arm, pulling her to a standing position.

“She’s always been so defiant,” Penelope tutted. “Come on, Cheryl. Mrs. Friedrich is going to make you _better_.”

“No,” Cheryl heard herself say, with surprising strength, “no, I’m not going anywhere.”

Nancy let out a little laugh, like one might do after hearing a small child say something ridiculous. “Of course you are, dearie. Your mother loves you so much, that’s why she’s doing this. She wants you to be _clean_ and _normal_ , Cheryl. Come now.”

Nancy grabbed Cheryl’s other arm when the redhead didn’t move, and between the two of them, they pulled her out the front door. Cheryl began to try and pull away as soon as they were outside, but Nancy had a surprisingly strong grip, and Cheryl was sure that she was going to have bruises later. _Later_. What was going to even happen later? What did they do at this “school?”

Cheryl began to panic again, her breathing picking up again and her hands getting sweatier. She couldn’t even try to fight as the panic took over her body, and she was pushed into the back seat of a car. Before they could close the door, Cheryl managed to ask, “W-what about clothes? O-or toiletries?”

“Oh, we’ll have all new things for you at school, dearie,” Nancy promised.

Then the door slammed, and Cheryl saw Penelope smiling at her. It was an evil smile, one that practically screamed “I told you this wasn’t the end of the conversation.” Cheryl felt the tears burning her eyes and down her cheeks, and her breathing was still too fast, she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. Nancy got into the driver’s seat, directly in front of Cheryl, and the car started.

“Don’t worry, dearie,” Nancy said, “you’ll be thanking me and your mother for this one day.”

Cheryl squeezed her eyes shut, more hot tears sliding down her cheeks. She tried to calm herself down, to figure out what she could possibly do at this point. Toni popped into her mind, how she had no idea what was happening, how she wouldn’t know what happened to Cheryl. Cheryl would seemingly disappear from Riverdale. Would anyone besides Toni even notice? Would anyone besides Toni even _care_?

More tears came, but as Nancy began to drive slowly down the long driveway out of Thornhill, Cheryl had one more idea pop into her head. Thornhill was a huge expanse of a property, and she knew it very well. She could jump out of the car, while it was moving, and make a break for the storage barn. She would have to kick off her heels, but then she could at least hideout somewhere there for a while, and figure out something to do in the meantime.

That was her plan, she decided, and her breathing calmed somewhat as she waited for the perfect time to open the door and make a break for it. She would do it right when Nancy reached the edge of the driveway, when she was about to turn onto the main road. It would make it hard for her to turn around, and would take Nancy enough time that Cheryl would probably be able to hide away _somewhere_.

She took in a deep breath, telling herself that she could do this, that she _had_ to do this.

And then, all of the sudden, she heard a loud rumble, and she thought something was wrong with the car for a moment. Then she looked ahead of them, and there, on the driveway of Thornhill facing them, were five motorcycles and a truck. The truck was in the middle of the driveway, with two bikes on either side and one leading the way. On that one, sat none other than Toni Topaz.

Cheryl felt warmth fill her chest, and she let out a sob of relief at the realization that she wasn’t alone.

No, she really wasn’t. The other members of the rescue party were Sweet Pea, Jughead, Fangs, and Joaquin, all on their motorcycles, and Archie, Betty, Veronica, and _Jason_ in the truck. Archie and Betty sat in the seats, and Veronica and Jason were now standing in the bed, and that’s when Cheryl realized that the group had stopped moving.

“What in the world?” Nancy muttered under her breath, now forced to stop. When the car stopped, Cheryl immediately opened the back door and tried to make a run for her girlfriend, but the driver side door opened just as swiftly, and Nancy grabbed her, standing and closing the door, her hand wrapped firmly around Cheryl’s forearm.

Toni immediately jumped off of her motorcycle, tearing off her helmet, and yelled, “Let go of her!”

“And who are you?” Nancy called back, sounding surprisingly level headed.

“Shut up, and let Cheryl go!” Sweet Pea yelled suddenly. “You don’t want to mess with us, lady!” At that, each of the guys on bikes, with their helmets still on, pulled out a switch blade, and Cheryl heard Nancy let out a shaky breath. Apparently, the threat of violence was all it took for the woman to release Cheryl, who immediately ran to Toni, practically jumping into her arms.

“Oh my god, Toni,” Cheryl sobbed.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Toni whispered, “are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” Cheryl answered, she barely managed to get out, “she has my phone.”

Toni nodded, carefully pulling away from Cheryl. “Get on the bike, we’ll get your phone.” Cheryl obeyed, because she was too much of a mess to do anything else, and straddled Toni’s motorcycle. Toni nodded to the Serpents, who all got off their bikes.

“We just want her phone,” Toni called to Nancy, “and then we’ll be gone.”

“You are all filthy sinners!” Nancy yelled.

“Great, good to know,” Toni answered, and she and the rest of the guys started closer to the woman and the car.

“Cher,” Jason called, “are you okay?”

Cheryl turned around to look at her brother, who hadn’t abandoned her. He had gone to get _help_. He was the reason that this whole rescue party was here. She felt a lump in her throat, keeping her from speaking, and she just nodded. She looked back at the scene in front of her. Nancy had given in, opening the car door and grabbing Cheryl’s phone, handing it over. Cheryl heard Toni saying something to the woman, but she couldn’t tell what it was, but the ashen look on Nancy’s face told Cheryl that it must’ve been pretty bad.

Cheryl’s phone in hand, Toni and the boys started backing back toward the bikes. “Get back in the car,” Toni demanded at Nancy, who obeyed. Once she was inside, everyone climbed back on their bikes, Cheryl scooting back to let Toni on. They all turned on at the same time, creating a loud rumble. It took a minute for all of the bikes and the truck to turn around, but they promptly made it back on the main road.

Cheryl didn’t pay attention to the ride after that, just reveling in the feeling of relief. She was sobbing again, she realized, as she clung to Toni. The wind whipped through her hair and turned the warm tears ice cold against her face. She’d been so scared of riding this bike the first time she’d done it, when all along it was her own home she should’ve been scared of.

They got to Sunnyside, and Cheryl let Toni help her off of the bike and into the trailer. “Do you wanna go to my room?” Toni asked. Cheryl nodded, and Toni walked her into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Cheryl didn’t know where everyone else had gone, but she couldn’t think about that right now.

She had finished crying now, and she wiped at her face, knowing that her makeup was probably ruined. Toni’s hand was suddenly on her cheek, helping her wipe away the almost dry tears. Cheryl sniffed, trying to recompose herself.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Toni whispered, “but we can, if you want to.” Cheryl didn’t say anything. “You’re probably wondering how we found out what was happening.”

“Jason,” Cheryl said softly, and Toni nodded.

“Yeah. He told Jughead he thought something weird was going on, and Jughead called me, and everything else just happened after that,” Toni explained. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there sooner.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Cheryl whispered, her voice feeling scratchy from sobbing, “you were there. That’s what matters.”

“So your mom did this.” It wasn’t a question, but Cheryl nodded anyway. “Did your dad know?”

“Probably. I don’t know. He wasn’t there.”

“Do you… do you want to tell me what happened?”

Cheryl sniffled, finally meeting Toni’s eyes. “They said there was a boarding school in Maine that specialized in dealing with ‘people with my issues.’ I tried to text you, but my hideous mother took my phone. Jason saw us all talking, and she told him to buy breakfast at school and that I wouldn’t be going to school today. Then…”

“Then?” Toni asked softly.

“They were talking… about details and things… and I—I was panicking. I couldn’t make a run for it, I couldn’t get my keys. I thought that was it, and they brought me out to the car a-and… while we were driving, I was going to jump out—to make a run for the barn, but then… then you guys showed up,” Cheryl finished, sniffing again.

Toni brought her hand to Cheryl’s back, rubbing it soothingly. Cheryl leaned into her, Toni’s arm wrapping around her. Her free hand came to Cheryl’s forearm touching there—where Nancy had grabbed her by the car—for a moment, and then dragging up to her upper arm—where Nancy and Penelope had been holding Cheryl to get her out of the house. “They hurt you,” Toni whispered.

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted, realizing that there must’ve been bruises left behind after all. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“You’re staying here tonight,” Toni instructed, and Cheryl nodded in agreement. There was no way she was going back to Thornhill tonight. She wasn’t sure when she would go back, but that was a question for another time. “Lay down. Have you had breakfast?” Cheryl shook her head as she pulled away from Toni to lay down across the bed. She slipped off her shoes as Toni stood up. “I’m going to make you something.”

“Did everyone else go back to school?” Cheryl asked.

Toni shook her head. “I think they’re outside. Do you want me to tell them to go back? I think they wanted to check on you.”

Cheryl took in a deep breath, trying to compose herself a bit more, and shook her head. “They can come in.” Toni nodded, giving her a small smile, and opened the bedroom door. She went to the kitchen and Cheryl heard the front door open. “I’m gonna make her food, you guys can come in and see her.” Suddenly, the group began filing into the trailer and down the hallway to Toni’s room.

“Hey,” Veronica said, leading the way. She was followed closely by Archie, Betty, Jughead, Jason, Sweet Pea, Fangs and Joaquin. Somehow, all of the fit into the small room around the bed. “First of all, the decorations we picked out look _great_.”

Cheryl managed a smile. “Yeah, they do.”

“How are you holding up?” Fangs asked.

Cheryl shrugged. “I’m going to be fine. Just shaken up. That was… mildly terrifying." And understatement, but she wanted to seem strong. "Thank you guys for the help.”

“You don’t need to thank us,” Sweet Pea stated firmly. “You’re family, and we have our family’s back.” Sweet Pea, Joaquin, and Jughead all nodded firmly, and Cheryl felt her heart flutter. All of these Serpents calling _her_ family?

“I’m sorry,” Jason said suddenly, “that you thought I just left you this morning. I could tell you were really upset, but I know mom and… I knew that I couldn’t say anything to you, or they might know that I was going to help you.”

“Your family sounds so fucked up,” Sweet Pea muttered, shaking his head.

Cheryl gave her brother a smile, ignoring Sweet Pea’s very true comment. “It’s okay. I did think you’d left me, and I’m sorry that I didn’t have more trust in you.”

“I don’t have the best track record with being trustworthy,” Jason reasoned.

“Well, consider my trust in you to be restored.”

“Do you need anything from us today, Cher?” Veronica asked, placing her hand gently on Cheryl’s shoulder. The redhead felt herself almost flinch, but she resisted.

“I think I’ll be okay. I don’t want you all to miss school because of me,” Cheryl answered. “Just… let coach know that I can’t make it today.”

“Don’t worry about any of that,” Veronica insisted. “I’ve got it covered.” Cheryl smiled gratefully. “But yeah, if it’s okay, I think Archie, Jughead, Betty and I are going to head back to RH.”

“Okay,” Cheryl said with a nod. “Thank you again.”

“Our pleasure,” Betty said, smiling at her. The four of them began to file out, Archie nudging Jason and nodding toward the exit.

Cheryl looked to her brother. “You should get back too, JJ. Aren’t they your ride?”

“Yeah… are you sure?” he asked, to which Cheryl nodded. “Okay. Well, text me if you need anything. And if you want, I can pick up anything you missed at school?”

“That would be great.”

“Okay. I’ll bring it by later today. See you later, Cher.” He followed the other four out of the trailer, leaving Cheryl with a bunch of Serpents who called her family.

“You not going to send us off to school?” Fangs asked with a goofy grin.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I was about to ask if you were going back.”

“Well, _I_ have a test in a couple hours,” Joaquin said, “so I probably should.”

“I’ll go with you,” Fangs said with a nod.

“Thank you for your help, you guys,” Cheryl thanked them, and they both gave her a nod, said goodbye to Sweet Pea, and then left. With just Sweet Pea standing next to the bed now, Cheryl could see Toni down the hallway in the kitchen, making something. She felt her stomach rumble angrily. “What about you?”

“I literally have nothing to do at school today,” Sweet Pea told her. “Same goes for Tiny. We had quizzes and shit last week, and now we’re sort of on the home stretch of the semester, so there’s basically nothing until finals in a few weeks.”

“Okay. That’s good.” He nodded in agreement. “So… you guys really consider me like family?”

“Not _like_ family,” Sweet Pea said, “just _family_.”

“I thought the Serpents were your family.”

Sweet Pea chuckled, leaning against the wall. “You’re like, Serpent adjacent. Close enough.”

“Mm,” Cheryl hummed. “Serpent adjacent…”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Red. We like having you around. You’re a good addition.”

Cheryl sat up a little straighter. “Sweets, if I asked you to do something for me, would you?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “That sounds very ominous…”

“It’s not anything too major,” Cheryl insisted, but then Toni was coming down the hallway. “I’ll text you, later.” Sweet Pea nodded, his eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion. Cheryl turned her attention to her beautiful girlfriend, walking into the bedroom with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

“Hope this is satisfactory,” she said, handing the plate to Cheryl.

“Thank you.”

Toni looked at Sweet Pea. “You ditching?”

He shrugged. “It’s not like there’s much to do at school anyway. But I guess if it’s going to be a third wheel situation, I can head out.”

“You’re welcome to stay,” Cheryl insisted, at the same time as Toni said, “Yeah, you should go.”

Sweet Pea laughed at that, shaking his head. “Wow, Toni. Your girlfriend likes me more than you do?” Toni rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll be a half decent student today, then. Let me know if you guys need anything.”

“We will,” Toni promised. “See you later.”

“See you, Tiny Toni!” As soon as Sweet Pea left the trailer, Toni met Cheryl’s eyes and smiled softly at her. “You feeling a little better?”

Cheryl took a bite of her eggs as she nodded. She swallowed her food and answered, “Yeah. Everyone was very nice.” Toni smiled, sitting down on the foot of the bed, facing Cheryl.

“I’m sorry that this happened to you, Cheryl…”

“It’s okay.”

“I can’t stop thinking about how badly I… how badly I just want to protect you, like, indefinitely,” Toni said with a little laugh, her gaze darting away, “but I mean, I know that you can protect yourself when it comes to most situations.”

“And in all the other ones,” Cheryl said, drawing Toni’s gaze back to her, “you can do the protecting.”

Toni nodded, her eyes shining happily. “I’m really glad you’re okay. And for the record, I have no doubt that your jumping and running out of the car plan would have worked, if we hadn’t shown up.”

“I’m just happy that you did show up,” Cheryl told her quietly. “Just… maybe we can stop talking about it.”

“Of course,” Toni agreed, nodding. “How about I get out my laptop and put on a movie for us?”

Cheryl nodded. “That sounds good.” Toni hopped up off of the bed and went over to where her backpack was sitting on her dresser and began to unzip it to get her laptop out. Cheryl smiled as she watched her girlfriend get the movie ready. She felt so lucky in this moment, so grateful and so protected, that she could almost forget the horrors of this morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not about to write conversion therapy y'all. I think one of the most important things to come out of what happened is Cheryl and Jason's relationship being able to finally include trust again. Also, I think this is going to change Cheryl's outlook and priorities. What do you guys think will change after this chapter?  
> Again, thank you all for your comments on the previous chapter. And thank you for continually taking time to read, kudos, and comment on this fic. It seriously means the world to me, and I get so excited every update day to post a new chapter. I'm realizing that we are getting closer to the end, and that I haven't finished the Toni POV yet! Ah! It might not be ready right after this story, but we'll see how much motivation I can gather between now and then haha.  
> Please feel free to tweet at me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and leave any feedback you have. I hope you all are having a lovely Easter (if you celebrate it) and I will see you all on Thursday with the next chapter!


	25. tangled up in your mattress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl goes back to school after a short break to recover from nearly being shipped off to Maine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning lovelies! Happy Thursday! This chapter is really long, and honestly, I think most of the chapters between now and the end are all pretty long, because I originally wanted this story to be 25 chapters, and when I kept saying "one more chapter" so I would write a big fat chapter, and then realize I still needed another one haha. I can't believe we're in the last 5 chapters of this story! You guys have all been so amazing, but I won't get all sappy just yet. We've still got 5 more chapters after all!  
> Anyway, without further ado... please enjoy Chapter 25! :D

Cheryl took Tuesday off of school as well, calling in the morning to inform Principal Weatherbee of the unfortunate circumstances. She wanted to tell him everything that happened—to shame her mother—but she decided it was perhaps safer to omit certain details. Nevertheless, Principal Weatherbee was happy to excuse her absences as long as she returned to school on Wednesday with her Monday and Tuesday work completed. Cheryl thought that was a little unfair, but thankfully, Jason brought her the work she’d missed on Monday and Tuesday, so she was able to knock it out.

She made Toni go to school on Tuesday, though, insisting that she would be fine on her own. She’d spent most of Monday napping and eating and watching TV, but Tuesday was her real recovery day. She took a hot shower in the small shower space in the trailer, stealing some of Toni’s vanilla scented shampoo and also her bodywash. When she was clean and all dried off, she brushed out her hair and stole some of Toni’s lip gloss to give her some semblance of normalcy, since all of her makeup was back at Thornhill.

Before she got dressed, she looked herself over in the mirror, noticing the slightly bluish discoloration around either of her upper arms and also her right forearm. She ran her fingers over the spots, a frown on her face, and hoped that they would fade quickly. Her skin was so fair, though, and bruises came easily and went away slowly.

She stole some clothes from Toni—leggings and a hoodie, which must’ve been oversized on Toni but fit Cheryl just fine. She then made herself a lunch with the meager food options in Fangs’ and Toni’s kitchen, and then tried to entertain herself by clicking through cable TV channels in the living room. She didn’t have her laptop or anything else with her, so there wasn’t much she could do for fun.

She ended up deciding to go on a walk, when it was close to time for Toni to return home, and left the trailer as she was, after slipping on her shoes, of course. Being at Sunnyside in the middle of a weekday was weird. Not many people were around, and most motorcycles and cars were gone. Kids were at school, and adults were out working or doing Serpent business, she presumed. She wondered briefly what that business might be exactly, but she didn’t know enough about it to really say.

That’s what made her remember that she’d meant to text Sweet Pea the previous day, and she grabbed her phone out to do that now.

**Cheryl – Hey. About that thing I want you to do for me…**

**Sweet Pea – Oh yeah, about the ominous “not very major” thing?**

**Cheryl – Yeah that. So. Hear me out.**

She began texting quickly and with purpose, and returned to the trailer to keep herself from walking into things. She ended up back on Toni’s bed, her shoes off, and still texting Sweet Pea. When she finally sent the message, she let out a breath. He would either jump on board without hesitation, or he would think she was in over her head. Whichever one it was, it would probably make or break the whole plan.

She saw his little texting bubble appear right as Toni texted her that she was on her way back from Southside High, and she held her breath.

**Sweet Pea – You’re crazy, Red. But yeah. Count me in.**

* * *

Cheryl walked into school on Wednesday with a mission.

She hadn’t gone back to Thornhill yet, so Toni had just dropped her off very early and then left for Southside high, and her makeup wasn’t as all out as it would normally be for school, but she’d managed with some of Toni’s makeup. She’d also stolen some clothes from Toni—dark skinny jeans that fit her even tighter than they fit Toni, and a white long sleeved crop top. It was simple, but topped off with the heels she’d had from Monday, she was still able to strut as well as ever.

And it seemed like everyone could tell that it would not be a good day to mess with Cheryl Blossom. They all gave her looks of surprise, no doubt at how fiery she was coming back after being gone for two days. Granted, they didn’t really know why she'd been gone, but she was sure there had been rumors of some sort. And as Cheryl beelined for the principal’s office that morning, everyone in the hall parted way for her to get through.

She didn’t knock as she walked in, and fortunately, Principal Weatherbee was the only one in his office, looking through some paperwork. He looked up warily, and then his eyebrows darted up in surprise. “Oh, Miss Blossom. Lovely to see you back here with us today. Is everything okay? How are you holding up after the past couple of days?”

“Thank you, Principal Weatherbee,” she answered formally. All she’d told him about the situation with her mother was that her mother attempted to send her away to an abusive boarding school, and she’d managed to flee. Of course, her email had been laced with far more words than just that simple explanation, but she’d essentially taken out the part about the fact that the boarding school was most definitely a conversion therapy school. “I’m actually holding up quite well, all things considered. I have all of my work done from the past two days, and honestly, I’m ready to put them behind me and move on.”

“That’s very good to hear, Miss Blossom. Please forgive me, but I have to ask—as a school administrator—do I need to be worried about your mother?” he asked. “You have to know, I am required to report anything related to abuse to CPS.”

Cheryl shifted somewhat uncomfortably, not expecting this question. “For now, Principal, I believe there is nothing to worry about. Should that change, I will come to you.” He nodded.

“Okay, well in that case, I hope that you have a good day, Miss Blossom, and—”

“Actually,” Cheryl interrupted, “there was something else I wanted to discuss. Something unrelated to my absence.”

“Okay…” He lifted an eyebrow.

“It came to my attention last week that this year’s junior prom—and senior prom as well, I suppose—is not allowing any students from outside of Riverdale High to attend?” Cheryl inquired.

Weatherbee let out a sigh. “Yes, that is the conclusion that the prom committee and administrators came to. It was not a unanimous decision, Miss Blossom, but due to the limitations on our venue size—”

“That is preposterous!” Cheryl exclaimed. “Both proms are held at The Five Seasons hotel, and I know that we could fit double the size of one grade level here in one of those event rooms.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Blossom, but that just wasn’t the same conclusion that the committee came to.”

Cheryl crossed her arms. “Do you happen to know that the head of this year’s junior prom committee is Heather Wright?”

“Yes, Cheryl, I do know that.”

“And do you remember that Heather Wright is also the one who launched a public attack on me, requiring me to break _school rules_ just to save a semblance of my dignity?” Cheryl demanded.

Weatherbee let out a tired exhale. “Yes, Miss Blossom, I remember that too.”

“Then, it should hardly surprise you to hear that Heather is most definitely doing this to target me and my current relationship. If you didn’t know, dear Principal, I am in a relationship with someone who currently attends Southside High. And it is absolutely discrimination to not allow me to bring her,” Cheryl asserted.

“I am very sorry, Miss Blossom, but this is not an issue of discrimination, just, simply the bureaucracy,” Weatherbee insisted.

“It is my understanding that you are able to override the bureaucracy at this school,” Cheryl stated.

He sighed. “Why don’t you just attend Southside High prom as well?”

“Actually,” Cheryl immediately snapped, “you probably _won’t_ be surprised to hear that Southside High doesn’t have a prom this year. They didn’t even have one last year. Were you not aware of that, Principal Weatherbee?”

He sat up a little straighter. “Actually no, Cheryl, I wasn’t.”

“Well. I would think, as the principal of the more privileged school here in Riverdale, that you would want to help out the less privileged members of our town. Of course, no one expects you to invite all of Southside High to our prom, but at the very least, do not turn away a ticket-buying student who happens to live in a less fortunate area.”

A few minutes later found Cheryl walking out of Weatherbee’s office, a smug smile on her face. She’d won. How could she not have won? The principal would’ve had to be a truly horrible person to deny Cheryl after the point she’d made. The kids at Southside High deserved to have access to the only prom being held in Riverdale.

Cheryl liked to think that she’d grown since her friendship with Heather had ended, but she couldn’t help how petty she wanted to be right now. She almost walked right to Heather’s locker to tell her that she’d won on Prom, but she decided now probably wasn’t a good time. Well, she didn’t _really_ decide that, but Veronica happened to intercept her halfway to Heather’s locker.

“Cher!” Veronica greeted brightly. “Hey, it’s great to see you back. Did you already forget where you locker is?”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “No, I was going…” Veronica lifted an eyebrow, and Cheryl shook her head, turning away from her current path and heading toward her locker. “I spoke to Principal Weatherbee.”

“Oh yeah?” Veronica asked, walking with her. “What about?”

“Prom,” Cheryl answered, her voice sounding smug now, reaching her locker and opening it up. “and guess who’s now allowed to come to Riverdale High’s proms?”

Veronica grinned. “Lemme guess… Toni?”

“Yes, and any other student from Southside High,” Cheryl told her. “Well, there’s a slight caveat. They have to have a ticket, of course, which may be a bit expensive for some of their students. But I know that the money was part of the reason I was able to win over Weatherbee.”

“Well, maybe we can do a fundraiser or something,” Veronica suggested. “We can get one of your Southside friends to poll at Southside High and see who all wants to come.”

Cheryl smiled at her friend. “Yeah… we could try that. I’ll ask Toni about it later.”

“So, were you going over to Heather to gloat, then?” Veronica asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Cheryl grabbed her stuff out of her locker, then closing it pointedly. “Maybe.”

“Well, I’m sorry for interrupting you,” Veronica apologized.

“No, I’m glad you did.”

Veronica lifted an eyebrow.” You’re not going to talk to her?”

“No, I think I’ll just make an announcement to the Vixens table at lunch today?”

Veronica laughed, shaking her head. “Cheryl Blossom, you are something else.”

The school day was actually pretty good after that, mostly because Cheryl was in high enough spirits after this morning to ignore the fact that she’d been absent for a couple of days. She was also glad that her top was long sleeved, so that she didn’t have to see the bruises on her arms to remind her of Monday.

During lunch, she did actually strut over to the Vixens table, with Veronica and Betty backing her up. “Good afternoon, Vixens,” she’d greeted, drawing intrigued looks—and an annoyed one from Heather. It seemed that at this point, most of the Vixens were actually pretty indifferent to Cheryl and Heather’s friend-breakup, which Cheryl was happy about. “I just wanted to let you know about a new policy that Principal Weatherbee will be emailing the prom committee about very soon. I know a lot of you happen to be on that committee, so I figured I would let you know ahead of time.”

“You’re not even on the prom committee, how would you know anything about any prom policies?” Heather snapped.

“Well, I’m sure none of you were aware, but Southside High doesn’t actually have the budget for a prom this year—they haven’t for a while,” Cheryl began, “so, Weatherbee very graciously decided to open our proms up to any of their paying students.”

Heather’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“Here at Riverdale High,” Veronica piped up, “we don’t discriminate against disenfranchised students.”

“Well, that’s all we wanted to tell you imbeciles,” Cheryl finished, “so I guess my _girlfriend_ and I will see you all at prom next week.” She gave them all a big, fake smile, and then she, Veronica, and Betty turned on their heels and headed back to their table.

“Oh my god,” Betty said with a little laugh, “Heather’s face was priceless.”

Cheryl let out a breath, feeling oddly refreshed. “Oh, how it good it feels to reclaim power.”

“Oh come on, Cher,” Veronica said, “you know you’ve always been our HBIC.”

Cheryl couldn’t help the smile on her face. “Well it feels good to rule without her claiming credit for everything I’ve built. She acted like I was leeching off of her all these years, but _I_ built the Vixens to what they are now. _I_ am the one who’s good at talking to Weatherbee and teachers and coaches.”

“She used you,” Betty said, “we knew that. And like you said, you have the power back.”

The three of them rejoined Jughead and Archie at their usual table, and Cheryl looked between the two girls. “You know… I’m really grateful to have you two as friends.” She smiled, and looked at Archie and Jughead too. “And you two, too.”

Jughead feigned shock. “Oh my g—did _Cheryl Blossom_ just refer to me, _Jughead Jones_ , as her friend?” Cheryl rolled her eyes, and everyone else at the table laughed.

“We’re all happy to be here for you, Cher,” Veronica insisted. “Don’t forget that, okay?”

Cheryl smiled. “I won’t. You all have done a lot for me. And I… am not really used to having a lot of people around who um… have my back. And I want you to know that I have yours as well.”

Everyone at the table smiled, and Betty said, “We know, Cher. Don’t worry.”

“So,” Jughead said, lifting an eyebrow, “I assume Toni is coming to prom then?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, “well, as soon as I officially ask her. Also, invite Sweet Pea and Fangs and Joaquin, and anyone else. I’m happy to help any of them pay for a ticket. And anyone at Southside High, Veronica and I were thinking that we could maybe do a fundraiser to help pay for any tickets they might want.”

Jughead nodded. “Okay, I’ll let the guys know to pass the word around. That’s really cool of you, Cheryl.”

Cheryl shook her head. “I’m just… trying to be a half decent person for once.”

“Oh shut up,” Veronica tutted, rolling her eyes. “Have you decided how you’re going to ask Toni to go to prom with you? Is it going to be some big prom-posal?”

“Those are stupid,” Jughead insisted.

Betty rolled her eyes. “You did a prom-posal for me last week.”

“It’s only _not_ stupid if it’s for you,” Jughead answered sappily, and Archie, Cheryl, and Veronica exchanged amused looks.

“God, all of you couples are just too adorable,” Veronica said, shaking her head.

Cheryl finally answered Veronica’s question, “I don’t think I’m going to go too big. Big, fancy things aren’t really what impresses Toni. Honestly, I might just… ask her.”

“Aww, that’s so lame,” Veronica whined.

“You’ve gotta at least do _something_ special,” Archie piped up. “Lots of the Bulldogs are trying to keep it simple this year, so they can do bigger and better at senior prom next year. Flowers, maybe some balloons. Nothing too spectacular.”

Cheryl nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll think of something, I guess.”

“At least we know there’s no chance she’ll say no,” Jughead said with chuckle, and Cheryl smiled, nodding. He was right, Toni had already said she wouldn’t mind going to prom. All Cheryl had to do now was officially invite her.

* * *

After Vixens practice, Veronica asked Cheryl if she was going back to Thornhill yet, and Cheryl admitted that she wasn’t, and she didn’t even have her car back, and that seemed to fill Veronica with frustration. “That sucks! When are you going to get all your stuff back? Are you moving out? Are you going to still live there?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl admitted, “but Toni said she’d pick me up as soon as I texted. She doesn’t work most weekdays.”

“Well, if you had backup with you, would you want to go to Thornhill now? We can get all your stuff that you need for a while and you can bring it to Toni’s. You only had like half of your school stuff with you today, right?” Cheryl nodded. “Okay, well would you wanna go now?”

Cheryl let out a shaky breath. “Sure… um, but I’m going to ask Toni to come.”

“Of course. I’ll see who of our RH gang I can round up real quick.”

They both pulled out their phones and Veronica began texting furiously, and Cheryl pulled up her messages with Toni.

**Cheryl – Can we go to Thornhill? Veronica said she’ll come too, and we’re gonna try and get more backup. I don’t want to stay there, but she made a good point. I need my backpack and my car and some clothes and makeup and stuff.**

**Toni – Sure! Is Veronica going to drive you there? I can meet you there. I’ll bring Fangs and Sweet Pea, they’re just lazing around mine and Fangs’ trailer right now anyway.**

**Cheryl – Sure that works. I’ll text you when we leave RH.**

“Toni, Sweets, and Fangs are in,” Cheryl told her friend.

“I’m in,” Betty said, coming out of the locker room. “Just got your text, Ronnie.”

“Cool,” Veronica exclaimed brightly, “Jughead said he’ll meet us there too. Archie is helping his dad out at work, so he can’t.”

“Well, that’s enough of us,” Cheryl decided. “Can we carpool there?”

“Of course, girl, I know you don’t have your car,” Veronica reminded her, smiling and looping her arms with both Betty and Cheryl as they started toward the parking lot.

When they got to Thornhill, four motorcycles were waiting for them by the entrance to the driveway. They all pulled into the driveway at the same time, parked, and then they all unloaded.

“Hey guys,” Veronica called to the Serpents. She pointed at Sweet Pea and then Fangs, saying, “Sweet Pea, and Fangs?”

“Yep,” Sweet Pea answered with a smirk. “And you’re Veronica?”

“That’s right,” Veronica answered with a smile. “I’m glad we’re all here to support Cheryl taking her shit back.”

“We’ve already done one break-in, get stuff out sort of operation this year,” Sweet Pea, looking at Toni and Cheryl, “what’s one more?”

Cheryl smiled a little at that, grabbing Toni’s hand. “Come on, let’s just get this over with.”

They actually did need to break in, which Cheryl hadn’t thought about, because she didn’t have her keys. Thankfully, Toni had remembered, and she’d had Sweet Pea grab his lock-breaking supplies. It took him about thirty seconds to get in, and then the door opened smoothly. He grinned at the group.

“You enjoy that too much,” Jughead said with a shake of his head, as they all walked into the mansion.

“Damn, Red,” Fangs said, looking all around at the house, “you live _here_ and you still spend time at Sunnyside?”

“Trust me, Fangs,” Cheryl told him, “a big place like this, with parents like mine, is not full of any sort of hominess or love. It’s cold, and lonely, and almost every terrible thing that’s ever happened to me has happened within these walls.”

“Okay, fair point.”

“Come on,” Cheryl said, leading them all to the stairs. The house seemed empty, which made her backup party seem a little excessive, but she would admit that she did feel safer with them here. They reached Cheryl’s room, and the Serpents all looked around, impressed at its size, no doubt.

“I could live in here,” Sweet Pea murmured, as Cheryl began to go around the room collecting things. Her backpack and keys were right where she’d left them, and she was happy to see that her mother hadn’t been in her room at all since she’d left. She grabbed her phone charger, laptop and laptop charger, and all of her school stuff and shoved it in her backpack, zipping it up. Then she grabbed a spare bag and went into the bathroom to load up some stuff.

As she did, she heard her friends talking about the new prom situation, and Sweet Pea and Fangs seemed really happy about actually getting to go to a junior prom. Cheryl smiled to herself as she packed up her makeup and her main toiletries, then she left her bathroom and went to her closet to grab some things as well. She wasn’t sure of how long she would stay with Toni for, but she decided on at least grabbing a few days’ worth of clothes.

Once she’d done that, she decided that she had everything she needed. “Alright, that should be good.”

“Alright, let’s go get you your car,” Veronica said brightly, and Toni grabbed Cheryl’s backpack while the redhead carried the other bag, and they left her room.

“You doing okay?” Toni asked, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand.

“Yeah,” Cheryl promised, smiling softly.

“Good.”

Thankfully, they didn’t have a run in with either of Cheryl’s parents on their way out later, which told Cheryl that they probably weren’t home. There weren’t any complaints from her on that. They loaded Cheryl’s car up with her two bags, and then Cheryl thanked them all for coming with her. “It was probably a bit excessive… but I appreciate it nonetheless.”

“Nah, not excessive,” Sweet Pea insisted, “you were just giving us a tour of your mansion.”

“Her parents’ mansion,” Fangs corrected.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow?” she asked, looking at Veronica and Betty.

“I’m actually going to ride with Jug and go to Sunnyside for a while,” Betty answered.

Veronica pouted. “Wait, I’m gonna be the only one not getting to hang out at Sunnyside?”

Sweet Pea grinned suddenly. “Wednesday night party, anyone?”

“Oh my god,” Toni muttered with a groan.

And that’s how all of them ended up back at Fangs’ and Toni’s trailer. They’d managed to talk Sweet Pea out of the idea of having a bonfire party on a Wednesday night, but had agreed to hang out for a while and drink some of the beers that remained as a parting gift from Felicity.

They were sat on the couch and the chairs that they’d pulled out from the small table in the corner of the trailer. Toni, Cheryl, Veronica and Fangs were all squeezed on the couch, and Betty, Jughead, and Sweet Pea sat in the three chairs. They all had beers in their hands, and Veronica let out a happy sigh. “So this is what it feels like to hang out on the Southside.”

“You are ridiculous, V,” Betty said with a laugh.

“What? I’m just happy to be included,” Veronica insisted. “My two best friends are dating Serpents, after all.”

Cheryl smiled at that, leaning into Toni a little. Sweet Pea cleared his throat, “How about a drinking game? This isn’t really a party until there’s a drinking game, right?”

“How about Never Have I Ever?” Veronica suggested.

“I’ll start,” Jughead offered. “Never have I ever kissed a guy.”

Everyone else in the group drank, and then Cheryl, Toni, and Jughead gave Sweet Pea an incredulous look. “When have you kissed a _guy_?” Toni asked.

Sweet Pea shrugged. “When Fangs was feeling all confused about his sexuality.”

Fangs rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t a big deal. I was depressed and Sweet Pea was good friend and I stupidly kissed him. We were also drunk, though.”

“Wow, I’m proud of you for admitting that, man,” Jughead said to Sweet Pea, clapping him on the back with a smirk.

“How come it’s so not weird when girls admit to kissing other girls, but when guys admit to kissing guys it’s such a big deal?” Toni asked. “This is what’s fucked up about our society and gender.”

Cheryl smiled a little at her girlfriend, but Sweet Pea just rolled his eyes. “I’ll go next. Never have I ever gone to school at Riverdale High.”

Cheryl, Veronica, Betty and Jughead all lifted their beers to their lips. “What kind of question was that?” Veronica asked, after lowering her beer. “You knew what the answer was going to be.”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “Maybe I’m targeting people.” He looked to Fangs, who was next in the somewhat-circle. “Your turn.”

Fangs hummed thoughtfully, leaning back into the couch a little. “Never have I ever been blind-folded during sex.” Betty and Jughead slowly lifted their beers to their lips, and Veronica gasped.

“Oh my god, I did _not_ need to know that,” she exclaimed, shaking her head. Cheryl couldn’t help but make a face too, trying not to picture Betty and Jughead having sex of any kind.

“It’s not that weird,” Betty muttered, rolling her eyes. “Your turn, Ronnie.”

“Never have I ever had a Serpent tattoo,” Veronica said, and all of the Serpents drank.

“That one wasn’t very adventurous,” Sweet Pea commented.

Veronica lifted an eyebrow. “Well, maybe I’m _targeting_ someone.” Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows at her friend, glancing between her and Sweet Pea. She then looked to Toni, who was smirking and seemed to be noticing the same tension between the two of them.

Cheryl cleared her throat. “Um, my turn. Never have I ever… used online dating.”

Toni, Fangs, and Veronica all lifted their beers, and Cheryl glanced at her girlfriend curiously. “What?” Toni asked. “I was young and queer and wanted to hook up with people.”

“What about you, Ronnie?” Betty wondered.

Veronica shrugged. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do sometimes.”

“And well, I’m a gay guy living in Riverdale. What do you expect?” Fangs said, shaking his head.

“But you and… what was his name, Joaquin, are dating, right?” Veronica asked curiously. Cheryl smiled a little, enjoying seeing Veronica try to fit her way into the group, even though she’d never really hung out with all of these guys.

Fangs nodded. “ _Now_ we are. But that’s kind of recent. We used to just hook up, and it wasn’t like, official or anything.”

“Well, I think you guys are cute together,” Veronica informed him.

He smiled. “Thanks!”

“Your turn, Toni,” Sweet Pea interrupted.

Toni hummed thoughtfully. “Never have I ever been caught having sex.”

Betty, Jughead, and Sweet Pea all drank, and Veronica looked at Betty and Jughead with astonishment. Betty just groaned. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Yeah for me, my dad walked in,” Sweet Pea admitted, shrugging. “But my brother wasn’t home, so like, it wasn’t that bad. Anyway. Your turn, Betty.”

“Never have I ever cleared my internet history because of something sexual,” Betty said, looking around at all of the guys, who all drank. Toni also drank, and Cheryl lifted an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

“What?” she asked. “My uncle used to ‘borrow’ my laptop, what was I supposed to do?” Cheryl just chuckled, shaking her head.

They went around one more time before the first person—Sweet Pea—ran out of beer, and then they decided to call it on Never Have I Ever. They all hung out a little while more, Veronica seeming more and more comfortable hanging out with the Serpents, until Toni mentioned being hungry. At that point, Betty and Jughead said that they should be going, and Veronica took that as her cue as well. Sweet Pea decided that he should head home too, because his dad was supposed to be working late and he didn’t want Noah to be home alone at night. So everyone who didn’t live in the trailer, aside from Cheryl of course, said their goodbyes and left.

Toni put some boxed mac and cheese on the stove, and Cheryl went into Toni’s room to change out of her skinny jeans and into something more comfortable to hang out in for the rest of the evening. When she finished, Fangs had disappeared into his bedroom, so Cheryl just sat at the little table, waiting for Toni to finish making food.

“That was fun,” she said, referring to the evening.

“Yeah,” Toni agreed with a chuckle, “I think Veronica and Sweet Pea were giving each other _eyes_.”

“I noticed that too,” Cheryl admitted. “She’s been talking about how she’d like to be in a relationship, but she doesn’t want to get too committed before she leaves for college. She didn’t want to get with Archie because he doesn’t want to go to college, he wants to stay in Riverdale, and she could see things getting serious with him.”

Toni let out a hum of interest. “That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Deciding who to date now based on what’s going to happen in like, over a year?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I mean, it’s her decision, but yeah, I would say it is a little weird. I kind of get it, though.” Toni glanced over her shoulder at Cheryl, and Cheryl met her gaze. Cheryl wanted to ask something, but she couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. Thankfully, Toni seemed to know what Cheryl was thinking.

“You want to know what my plan after high school is.”

“I mean, I’m curious,” Cheryl answered. “Especially… after everything that happened with Felicity. And when Sweet Pea mentioned that he didn’t think anyone else on the Southside would be leaving Riverdale in a while… you seemed kind of upset about that, and about how everyone was talking about Felicity when she left. That made you really upset.”

Toni let out a breath. “Yeah, okay. All of that did make me upset. I feel like I’ve been underestimated all of my life, because of the shit I’ve had to go through. No one expects me to get far.”

“I do,” Cheryl spoke up gently. “You take beautiful photographs, Toni, and I know that you’d love to learn more about photography and film and art. And I know you could go so far if you wanted to. But… do you want to?”

The mac and cheese was seemingly finished, because Toni began to spoon it into two separate bowls, staring down at them and not answering Cheryl for a moment. Cheryl was about to tell her that she didn’t need to answer, but then, as Toni brought the bowls over to the table, she said, “Yeah. I think I do. But I don’t know how easy that will be… I have great grades and stuff, but Southside High is so shitty. What if universities are just biased against it?”

“I’m sure that won’t happen,” Cheryl insisted, “universities don’t care about how good your school was. They care about your grades, and your story. You know? You have to write essays and all that. And something tells me that you could write some damn good essays about the stuff you’ve been through.”

Toni sighed. “I don’t want to get into a university because they pity me, though.”

“Toni,” Cheryl said firmly, “I don’t think anyone has ever pitied you. You’ve been through shit, but at least from what I’ve seen, you’ve always stood strong and powered through. People admire that about you. They don’t pity you.”

Toni frowned. “You really think so?”

“Yes,” Cheryl answered. “And you can ask any of your friends. I’m sure they’d agree.” Toni’s frown disappeared and a small smile appeared in its place.

“Thanks, babe.”

They ate their dinner in comfortable silence, and then Cheryl volunteered to clean up the dishes, since Toni cooked the food. Once everything was cleaned up, they went into Toni’s bedroom and collapsed onto the small bed next to each other.

Cheryl let out a content sigh. “I’m glad we went to Thornhill today. It’s going to feel a little more… normal for me to have my car and my own makeup.” Toni nodded. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“Of course,” Toni answered.

“I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me Toni,” Cheryl said quietly. “I know I probably didn’t really thank you very much, for letting me talk to you before we started dating… and I was oblivious for a while when I was hurting you and didn’t know…”

Toni let out a quiet laugh. “Don’t worry about it, Cher.” Cheryl nodded, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. She felt so relaxed in this moment, it was really nice, peaceful. Suddenly, Cheryl remembered that there was something she needed to do.

“Toni?”

“Yes?”

“Would you go to prom with me?”

Toni pulled away from Cheryl’s embrace a little so that she could look at Cheryl’s face. “Yeah, of course.” Cheryl smiled at the response. “Honestly, after Veronica and Betty mentioned the prom thing earlier, I thought you were either going to go really big when you asked me, or you were just going to assume that I was coming with you since we sort of already talking about how I would go if I could.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I wanted to officially ask you. But I didn’t think I needed to do anything big. I wasn’t sure you’d want me to.”

Toni brought her hand up and let it weave through some of Cheryl’s fiery hair. “I wouldn’t have cared either way. I’m actually really excited to go to prom. After Southside High canceled ours last year, and it was announced that we still wouldn’t have one this year, I was pretty sure prom was not in my future.”

Cheryl grinned at her girlfriend. “Well, Toni, prom is now in your very near future.” Toni smiled as well, then closing the distance between them with a soft kiss. Cheryl pulled Toni impossibly closer to her, suddenly feeling that familiar craving for her girlfriend. As they kissed, she rolled on top of Toni, who let out a little noise of surprise, and began to trail her hands underneath Toni’s shirt.

It had been a crazy couple of days, but things were good now, or at least _okay_ , and Cheryl was in the mood to celebrate. So she began to take of Toni’s clothes and her own clothes, and murmured to her girlfriend, “I hope you weren’t planning on going to sleep early.”

Toni chuckled. “Never.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Toni can go to prom with Cheryl!! I'm realizing I don't think I've written a prom in any fanfic until this story? Or if I did, it was a long time ago. Which is crazy! Anyway, I hope you guys are excited for it. Also! Any guesses on what Cheryl roped Sweet Pea into helping her with?  
> I haven't been writing the Toni POV this week, because I re-addicted to this strategy game Crusader Kings II. So I've been spending all my free time in the evenings playing that lol. I really wanna finish the Toni POV, but I'm just not sure it will happen in a very timely fashion. We'll see! Once the semester ends beginning of May and I don't have school stuff anymore, I will definitely be writing more!  
> Anyway, thank you all for joining me today and reading this update <3 I appreciate you all so much! Don't forget you can always hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana, but otherwise I will see you on Sunday with the next chapter!! x


	26. and i won't let it go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl meets with Sweet Pea to talk about her plan, helps some Southside students get Prom tickets, and goes dress shopping with Veronica and Betty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday Update Day friends! I hope you guys are still enjoying this story, and I hope you all are doing well still with everything going on. We are really on the home stretch of this story after this chapter <3  
> Enjoy! xx

It was Saturday, and Toni had gotten a call from FP about some Serpent business that he needed more help with. She’d been very apologetic to Cheryl about having to go, but Cheryl didn’t mind. In fact, she knew that Toni was going to have to leave before Toni did.

And once Toni had left, Cheryl left the trailer, where she was still staying, and made the short walk over to Sweet Pea’s trailer. They had a whole plan devised, and Cheryl didn’t want to tell Toni about it just yet, so she’d asked Sweet Pea if he could somehow get Toni to be occupied, and his solution was to get FP in on the plan. Honestly, Cheryl had needed FP to be involved anyway, so it worked out great.

She reached Sweet Pea’s trailer and knocked real quickly on the door, and he immediately swung it open. “She left?” he asked unnecessarily, but Cheryl nodded anyway.

“What even are the Serpents doing today?” Cheryl wondered.

“I think it’s a drug pickup,” Sweet Pea answered, lifting an eyebrow. “Not scared yet, Red?”

“The Serpents don’t scare me,” Cheryl stated firmly.

Sweet Pea snickered. “I mean, most of what we do is harmless. We bring drugs into Riverdale and we sell them. And sometimes we do some other shit. And we keep the Ghoulies in check, which, let me just say, really is a benefit to the people of Riverdale.”

“I’ll admit, I definitely thought the Serpents did a lot worse, before I knew any of you,” Cheryl admitted.

“But even this drug stuff…”

“I think weed should be legal.”

Sweet Pea lifted his eyebrows. “What about the _other_ stuff?”

“If people are going to buy it, they’re going to buy it, but I was pretty sure you said that it’s almost always weed?” Cheryl answered with a shrug, and Sweet Pea nodded that she was right. “Look, I think you and I both know that in a little over a year, I’m out of Riverdale. This isn’t a lifelong commitment for me.”

“Dude, that’s the wrong way of looking at this,” Sweet Pea told her. “If you’re gonna be in, you’ve gotta be all in. No matter what your life plan is, you have to be ready to _die_ for each other.”

Cheryl let out a shaky breath. “Are you ready to die for those old farts who talked shit about Felicity while you were celebrating her success?”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “Okay, I guess you make a good point. But it’s in _theory_.”

“I get it,” Cheryl insisted, “I really do, but… I have no love for violence or thievery. Obviously, I don’t care what the Serpents do—”

“But if _you’re_ a Serpent, are you going to care what _you_ do?” Sweet Pea countered.

Cheryl crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, I’m prepared to help protect the Serpents. I read what you sent me—the Laws of the Serpents. None of them say you must physically handle and sell drugs.”

Sweet Pea nodded slowly. “Okay, fair point. You’re going to have to take that up with FP before you do the initiation, though.”

“Right,” Cheryl said with a nod.

“Speaking of the laws, how are you doing on memorizing them?” Sweet Pea asked. They finally sat down on the couch in the living room, and Cheryl let out a breath.

“I think I’ve got them mostly down.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“The first one… no Serpent stands alone.”

“Right.”

“The second one… if a Serpent is killed or imprisoned, their family will be taken care of.” Sweet Pea nodded. “The third one is a Serpent never sheds is skin. Then there’s… no Serpent is left for dead. A Serpent never betrays their own. And, of course, in unity, there is strength.”

Sweet Pea nodded approvingly. “Good, Red. Now, you have to have those memorized for initiation, but you don’t just need to _know_ them. You need to _feel_ them and _believe_ them. This isn’t an after school club. You’re committing to be part of this _family_ , and it’s a big deal. It has to _feel_ lifelong, even if you’re going to move away like Felicity did. When you come back, you’re a Serpent. If you need help when you’re outside of Riverdale, we’ve still got your back. That doesn’t just go away.”

“Okay, I get it,” Cheryl said with a nod. “You’re right. And I know that. Just… isn’t my joining different than most people joining?”

“Why?” Sweet Pea asked.

“I’m coming from a totally different place, as far as why I want to join.”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “People don’t join the Serpents looking to do crime.”

“Okay, some of them must,” Cheryl insisted.

“That’s not the point, Red,” Sweet Pea argued. “Look, the Serpents here who really know you, we love you like family, obviously. The Serpents who have seen you around but don’t know you, I’m sure they probably don’t have much opinion about you. But the Serpents who don’t know that you’re dating Toni or anything like that, they probably hate you.” Cheryl frowned. “I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but think about it. Your family is like… the kingdom of Riverdale, and the Serpents are the peasants.”

“I get it,” Cheryl muttered.

“You joining isn’t different because you’re looking for a family. It’s different because no one would’ve expected it,” Sweet Pea told her. “And maybe… I don’t know, maybe you aren’t exactly ready to join.”

Cheryl scoffed. “Excuse me?”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “You should probably get to know more of the Serpents. Talk to the people who are going to be your new family. Do something meaningful here, be memorable. When you recite those laws and reach into that snake cage in front of all those people, you want them to be rooting for you, not laughing at you and hoping you fail.”

Cheryl sighed, realizing what Sweet Pea meant. “Okay. Any suggestions?”

“Get out more?” Sweet Pea asked, a joking smile appearing on his face. Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Seriously though. Hey, let’s have a party at the White Wyrm tonight.”

“Toni works tonight.”

“That’s why we have it at the Wyrm,” Sweet Pea reasoned, shrugging. “If it’s at the Wyrm, a lot of older Serpents are guaranteed to be there too, not just the younger ones.”

“So what am I supposed to do to make them like me?” Cheryl demanded. “’Hey, if you wanna see me strip, support me in becoming a Serpent’?”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “Just be yourself.”

“I’m not sure that will impress anyone.”

“Fine. No party then.” Cheryl let out a breath, and Sweet Pea crossed his arms over his chest. “You wanna know the problem, Red?” Cheryl nodded. “You can’t _really_ get why we do what we do. Why do we smuggle drugs into Riverdale and sell them? Because we _have_ to, for money. We try to be better, we only do marijuana if we can help it, because it doesn’t hurt people like the bad stuff does. And a lot of us work real jobs, like Joaquin or Toni, so that the gang needs to get less drug money to feed everyone. Sometimes we go a couple months without doing anything very illegal, and it’s great. But it’s those low points that really suck, and you don’t know what that feels like, because for you, money is a nonissue.”

Cheryl let out a breath. “Okay, yeah… I understand what you’re saying. And you know, I really try to understand. I understand way more than I used to. But you’re right, I don’t have that firsthand experience.”

“You don’t need it,” Sweet Pea assured her, “but you know that Toni and I know that you’ve learned a lot, and that you can empathize with our situations. But show _them_ , everyone else. Okay? I can’t tell you how to do that. You need to do it, make yourself known as someone who cares and understands and wants to help. And then, maybe, _if_ you end up joining, you won’t need to do anything illegal, because you’ll be filling a different role that we’ve been missing.”

“Are you saying I should give the Serpents money?”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes. “No, dude. I’m talking about like… you brought a trash bag of clothes over and gave them to a bunch of people around here. That was awesome. You got your principal at Riverdale High to open prom up to everyone at Southside High, and you offered to do a fundraiser for tickets for them. Those things you’re already doing, those are great. Something like that, but bigger.”

Cheryl nodded slowly, finally getting it. “Okay. I can do that.”

Sweet Pea grinned. “Great, because I’m really excited for you to get your Serpent tattoo.”

Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “That’s mandatory, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Sweet Pea answered, still smiling. Cheryl couldn’t fight her own smile, and she shook her head.

“Okay, then I guess I’ll be getting it, once I get to the point where, as you say, all of the Serpents will be _wanting_ me in with them.”

“I don’t think it’ll be as hard as you think,” Sweet Pea admitted. “I think you’ve got this.”

“Thanks, Sweets.”

“No problem. So, when are we telling Toni about this?” he wondered.

Cheryl let out a long breath. “I don’t know. I’m worried she’s going to not want me to do it.”

“Why?” Sweet Pea asked.

“I guess I’m worried she’ll think I’m just doing it for her… or something.”

Sweet Pea nodded slowly. “Are you?”

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I’m doing this because… this place and… all of you… has felt more like home and family to me than any other place. And because I want to help the Serpents. I want to help people on the Southside. It’s like you said, the Serpents deal with drugs because they have to, because they need the money. I want to be a part of helping people. My whole life, I grew up thinking that I shouldn’t help people, that everyone else was lower than me. I was selfish and a bitch, but it was because I was being mistreated by my parents and my best friend… and I feel like I’m finally starting to find myself. And maybe I don’t want to live in Riverdale forever, maybe I don’t love the idea of dealing drugs… but I do love the idea of having a family, a support system, where everyone promises to have each other’s back.”

Sweet Pea grinned. “I know. Tell that to Toni when you tell her, if you’re worried she won’t get it.”

Cheryl smiled shyly and nodded. “Okay.”

“Alright, now, you promised me pizza, didn’t you?”

“It’s so easy to buy your time, Sweets.”

“I know.”

* * *

There was no party that night at the White Wyrm, but Cheryl decided to go with Toni to the bar anyway. None of her other Southside friends were there, so it was a little awkward at first, sitting at the bar, alone, drinking a beer while Toni worked. Occasionally, Toni would get a chance to come talk to Cheryl, and they would chat for a few minutes before Toni had to get back to working.

Every time the door opened, Cheryl would glance back to see if she recognized whoever had come in. Almost everyone who came in was more like her parents’ age, and most of them also had Serpent jackets on. She got multiple glares or stares from them as they came in and noticed her sitting there at the bar, seemingly without any Southside company.

At some point, though, Cheryl did recognize a group of people who walked into the Wyrm—Cody, and his friends. His buddies immediately went over to the pool table, but Cody seemed to notice her, and he, surprisingly, walked over to her. Cheryl tensed, worried about what was about to occur and bracing herself. “Cody,” she greeted plainly.

“Hey, Cheryl, right?” he asked, to which she nodded. “I heard from some guys that you were hooking Southside High people up with prom tickets.”

Cheryl blinked in surprise. “Oh. Yeah. Well, I don’t have them, but we’re trying to get a headcount of who wants to come. It’s this coming Friday. Tickets are usually about fifty dollars, but we’re trying to figure out how we can reduce the cost for Southside High students.”

He nodded. “Cool. So, I can’t buy from you directly? I have to go to like, Riverdale High to actually buy it?”

Cheryl hesitated. She wished that she’d prepared a bit more for something like this, but she actually had no idea what to do about this. “Hold on, let me call someone real quick and see if we can work something out.” She got up from the bar, and slipped outside into the cool evening air. She quickly found Veronica’s contact on her phone and hit the call button.

“Hey, Cher!” Veronica answered almost immediately. “What’s up?”

“So, I’m at the White Wyrm right now, and someone from Southside High is asking me about this prom ticket situation. He doesn’t want to have to go all the way to Riverdale High to buy the ticket, which is fair, since it would be hard to even do that while the prom committee is at the school.”

“That all makes sense,” Veronica agreed, “so what are you thinking?”

“He wants to buy from me—I’m the face he recognizes. But we haven’t really kicked off any sort of fundraiser, and prom is less than a week away. We don’t really have time to actually do something like we wanted to, do we?” Cheryl asked, feeling disappointment at herself. But the idea had only come to her earlier that same week, so she supposed it wouldn’t have been enough time then either.

“Probably not,” Veronica agreed, but Cheryl could tell that an idea was formulating in her mind. “Okay, well how about this. Our families run this town, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, maybe Lodge Industries and Blossom Maple Farms can provide a generous donation to cut the cost of prom tickets in half for Southside High students?” Veronica suggested. “We can sell discounted tickets to the Southside High students—they can get you the money and you can make the full purchase at school this next week, and get the tickets to the people who bought from you. Just get their name and number down. And I’ll pay you back half of what comes from you.”

Cheryl hummed with interest. “Okay… that may just work.”

“You have access to your parents’ bank account, right? I don’t want you to have to spend any of your own personal money or anything,” Veronica told her.

“Oh, they’re one in the same,” Cheryl answered, “and as much as my wretched parents hate me, they won’t be canceling my card anytime soon. That would mean disowning me from the entire company, which would mean that if anything ever happened to Jason, it would go to one of my wicked aunts or uncles. So I definitely have access.”

“Cool. Then I say let’s do that. We can inform Principal Weatherbee on Monday—we’ll go together that morning. But that way, you can sell any tickets this weekend that you want. You’ll just have to actually buy them on Monday.”

“Okay, that seems like a good plan,” Cheryl agreed. “Alright, thanks Veronica.”

“Anytime, Cher! Oh—wait! Did you want to go prom dress shopping with me and Betty tomorrow?”

“Oh, sure,” Cheryl agreed, surprised at the invite, but feeling warm inside at being included.

“Great! I’ll text you details! See you tomorrow then!”

“Yeah, see you!”

Cheryl hung up the call, smiling to herself, and then walked back into the Wyrm. Cody was still sitting by where Cheryl had been sitting, so she went back to her previous seat. “So,” she said, “I don’t have any prom tickets on me, but I know it’ll be a big hassle for everyone at Southside High to go to Riverdale High to purchase the tickets. I just worked out the discount for Southside High students, and thanks to donations from some Northside businesses, we can cut the ticket price in half.”

“So, twenty-five bucks?”

“Yes. If you give it to me, I can have the ticket for you on Monday. Senior prom, right?” Cheryl thought she remembered hearing that Cody was a senior.

“Right. Well, when will I be able to get it from you?” Cody asked, lifting an eyebrow. “How do I know you’re not scamming me?”

“I assure you, I would never scam you,” Cheryl insisted, “but if it helps build your trust in me, I’m currently staying with Toni at Sunnyside. So, I’ll be here right after school lets out on Monday, you can meet me outside her and Fangs’ trailer, and I’ll give you the ticket.”

“You’re living with Fogarty and Toni?” he asked in surprise.

“Temporarily,” Cheryl answered stiffly.

Cody nodded slowly. “Okay…”

“Why do you think I would scam you, anyway?” Cheryl asked, honestly a little offended at the thought. It wasn’t like she had any need for his money.

“Aren’t you like, best friends with Heather?” he asked. “I dumped her, remember?”

“I remember,” Cheryl told him, “but actually, Heather and I aren’t friends anymore. And anyway, I knew you would dump her from the second you started dating. Nothing against you, but she tends to gravitate toward guys aren’t ready for a commitment.”

Cody laughed. “Yeah, that’d be me. Okay. Huh. You’re not what I expected, Cheryl. I knew I’d seen you around more on the Southside than I thought, but…”

“You thought I’d be like her?” Cheryl asked.

“Maybe,” Cody answered with a shrug. “And she was… well, a little bit of a bitch, huh?”

Cheryl almost laughed at the statement. “Yes,” she said instead, “she is.”

“You’re cool, Blossom,” he said, nodding. “Alright, twenty-five bucks?” She nodded, and he looked over at his friends, nodding at them. Three more guys appeared, reaching for their wallets. They all dug twenty-five dollars out of them. “We’ll meet you outside the Fogarty trailer Monday after school for our tickets.”

“You sure she’s cool?” one of his friends asked. “This is three months savings for me, dude.”

“Yeah, we can trust her,” he answered, nodding. “She’s in with Toni and Sweet Pea and them.” The other guys looked at her, seeming impressed, and then they all forked over the money. Cheryl counted it quickly to ensure that it was indeed a hundred dollars total, and she nodded.

“Alright, I’ll meet you guys outside the trailer on Monday,” she said. “Let anyone else know that if they need to buy tickets, they can come to me any time before Thursday.”

“Cool, we’ll spread the word. Thanks, Blossom.” The guys disappeared, and Cheryl pocketed the cash. It was a lot to have on her at one time, but she wasn’t worried. Toni was with her, after all.

Speaking of Toni, she came up to Cheryl as soon as the guys had gone off to play pool, her eyebrows raised in curiosity. “What was that?”

“He wanted prom tickets,” Cheryl answered. “I called Veronica, and we were able to get the price to half.”

“So what’s the fundraiser?” Toni asked.

“It’s done,” Cheryl answered. “Lodge Industries and Blossom Maple Farms have both agreed to graciously donate twenty-five dollars toward every Southside student purchased ticket.”

“Does that mean that you and Veronica are making up the difference?” Toni asked, not seeming excited at that prospect.

Cheryl shook her head. “No, our parents are. It’s a donation, a tax write-off. It’s not a big deal, seriously. We came up with this idea too late to actually fundraise, and think about it. If we asked the families of Riverdale High students to donate hundreds of dollars so that Southside students could go to their children’s prom, how much money would we raise? People on the Northside don’t believe in giving money away to people they don’t think did anything to earn it.”

Toni nodded slowly. “Alright, I guess you’re right. Well. Thanks for doing that, babe. How much do I owe you for my ticket, then? Twenty-five?”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “Um, no. I’ve got your ticket,” Cheryl answered. “You’re my date, I’m paying for your ticket.”

“Come on, Cheryl, that’s fifty dollars.”

“Twenty-five dollars,” Cheryl corrected, “and it doesn’t matter. I asked you to _my_ prom, I’m buying the tickets. Okay? You can’t fight me on this.”

Toni let out a breath. “Okay, fine.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not excited to be _taken_ to prom?” Cheryl asked, smiling sweetly at her girlfriend. “I’ll take care of everything, okay? You deserve to be treated like a queen, after all.”

Toni genuinely blushed, and Cheryl wasn’t sure if she’d ever gotten to witness her girlfriend’s cheeks actually turn red. “Alright, maybe it’s okay…” Cheryl grinned.

“By the way, I’m going to dress shopping tomorrow with Veronica and Betty,” she said. “Do you want to come with?”

“No,” Toni answered, “I already know what I’m going to wear.”

“Can I ask what it is?” Cheryl asked, surprised that Toni already had a plan.

“Felicity had this really nice dress, from back when she went to prom. She got some kind of crazy deal on it—she’s really good at getting deals—and after she used it, she gave it to me. She said since I’m basically like a little sister to her, that I deserved to have it. I’ve been holding onto it since, it’s probably the most expensive thing I own. I figure I should use it.”

Cheryl nodded slowly, then tilting her head a little. “Did younger Toni have a crush on Felicity?”

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “No!” Cheryl smiled a little, quirking an eyebrow. “Maybe a little. But like, _way younger_ Toni, back when she used to babysit me. I didn’t really _know_ it back then, you know? But she is like my big sister now.”

“I know,” Cheryl said with a smile. “Okay, I’m glad you already know what you’re going to wear. I’ll just go with Veronica and Betty then.”

“Sounds good, babe,” Toni said, smiling softly. “Alright, gonna get back to work. Do you want something other than beer to drink?”

“Sure… make me something,” Cheryl suggested. “Something you’d think I’d like.”

Toni grinned. “Okay, this will be fun.”

* * *

“So, how many prom tickets are you getting tomorrow then?” Betty asked, as the three of them walked through aisles of fancy dresses. They’d each already picked out one that they wanted to try on, but they wanted to have multiple options selected to try on at once.

“Eight,” Cheryl answered. “Actually nine, I still need to buy mine. That’s me, Toni, Sweets, Fangs, Joaquin and then Cody and three of his friends. But Cody and his friends are going to senior prom, on Saturday.”

Veronica grinned. “I’m really happy that this is making a difference to people.”

“Not a big enough difference,” Cheryl muttered, her mind now thinking back to her conversation the previous day with Sweet Pea.

“What do you mean?” Betty asked. “Big enough for what?”

Cheryl sighed, occupying herself with looking at a dark blue dress that she would never want to wear. “Nothing. Never mind.”

“You okay, Cher?” Veronica asked. “Is something going on? Toni wants you to do more for the Southside kids or something?”

“No,” Cheryl immediately answered, “no, Toni is perfectly fine, nothing is going on.”

“Well, you seem really jumpy all of the sudden,” Betty said, but it seemed like they were prepared to drop the subject if Cheryl wanted. Cheryl moved on from the blue dress and found herself gravitating toward a black one. Her mind, though, was still on her dilemma about doing something to show that Serpents that she could become one of them. She glanced at her friends, who were looking at two different dresses, and let out a breath. Might as well get their input, she supposed.

“Okay,” Cheryl gave in, “but if I tell you guys, you _can’t_ tell anyone. Not Jughead, not Archie, not _Toni_. Okay?”

Veronica and Betty were immediately intrigued. “We swear,” Veronica promised. “What’s up?”

“I’m trying… I’m trying to join the Serpents,” Cheryl admitted.

“Oh shit,” Betty said, her eyebrows shooting up. “I did _not_ see that coming.”

“You didn’t?” Veronica demanded. “How did _you_ not, but I did? You see Cheryl around the Serpents way more than me.”

“How did you see it coming?” Betty asked her back.

“I mean, after all the rescue when all the boys called her family,” Veronica answered, “which was totally adorable, by the way.”

“Okay, so you want to become a Serpent,” Betty said, shaking her head a little like she was trying to focus. “What did you mean by not making big enough of a difference?”

Cheryl let out a breath, realizing the situation she’d gotten herself into. “Sweet Pea said that if I want to join the Serpents, I need to make sure that even the older Serpents are on board with it. I need to prove that I’m doing this for the right reasons. He doesn’t think I’m necessarily understanding the commitment.”

“Well, it’s a lifelong commitment,” Betty reminded her. “Are you _sure_ you’re wanting to do this? Did Toni ask you to?”

“No,” Cheryl snapped back, “she doesn’t even know that I want to. Just… I don’t know. The Southside has really felt like a home to me lately. And the people there are different from anyone I’ve ever known or been around. They care about each other. And I… I want that. And I need that.”

“That seems like a good reason to join,” Veronica reasoned, shrugging.

“Okay, but Cheryl. Remember what _you and I_ talked about, literally what—two weeks ago? You don’t like that they do illegal stuff. Also, do you _know_ what the initiation is for a woman?” Betty demanded.

“Yes, I do,” Cheryl answered sharply. “And I’ve talked to Sweet Pea about the drugs and all that. It’s not as big of a deal as it seems, and that’s the only crime that regularly occurs in the Serpents. It’s a community more than anything. They just happen to be a community with low incomes and not a lot of help. And _I_ want to help. Plus, people have their different roles in the Serpents. Sweet Pea said that if I talk to FP, I could maybe avoid dealing with anything worse than weed. But honestly? No one completely follows the law. I mean, you’re dating Jughead and he’s next in line to _lead_ the Serpents. My parents run a giant company, so does Veronica’s parents, and we all know that CEOs aren’t the most ethical people. The Serpents are just trying to survive.”

“Okay, and I get that,” Betty countered, “I’m just saying that it’s a forever thing, when you join. It’s not temporary.”

“I know. I’m taking this seriously,” Cheryl insisted. “It’s forever, yes, but it’s not exactly… constantly permanent. Look at Felicity. She wants to have a different life, and she moved on, and the Serpents—most of them anyway—celebrated it. And for the record, Toni wants to go to college. No one is going to expect her to come back to Riverdale every time shit goes down. I understand that it’s a forever thing, but it’s a forever thing in the way that family is. And I’ve never had a family that I felt wanted in.”

Betty let out a long breath, and then finally nodded. “Okay. Good. If you’re serious about this, I support you. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what you were doing. If you didn’t, you probably would’ve said _something_ in the past few minutes that made it sound like you were doubting it.”

“But she’s not,” Veronica finally spoke back up, “and girl, you are going to look hot in a Serpent jacket. So, you need to do something big and brave to prove yourself to the Serpents?”

They began looking at dresses again, and Cheryl answered, “I don’t know that it has to be brave really. But something noticeable. Sweet Pea said that the prom tickets and the donations was a good start, but not enough of the Serpents saw it.”

“What donations?” Veronica asked.

“Oh, I donated some clothes to some of the people at Sunnyside,” Cheryl answered, and then it hit her. She turned to look at her friends. “Wait! That’s it! What about a clothing drive? Or just, I don’t know, a donation drive?”

“What other stuff could be donated besides clothes?” Veronica asked.

“Food,” Betty said in understanding, nodding slowly. “You know, like canned foods and stuff. That might be a good idea. It’s like you said, Cher. They’re low income. And some of them live off of the drug money income, which isn’t necessarily steady.”

“Everyone there keeps each other up. Like Fangs, he doesn’t work, but as long as he stays with the Serpents doing his part, FP makes sure he still has electricity and water and everything,” Cheryl said. “It’s one of their laws—basically, you take care of each other. What better way to show that I belong with them than by taking care of them?”

“That does seem like a good idea,” Veronica agreed, “but do you think that’s ever really been done before?”

“No,” Betty answered for Cheryl, “because they’ve never had a big Northsider join the Serpents. Jughead is the closest thing they’ve maybe _ever_ had to a Northsider in their ranks. Cheryl was raised on the Northside, she’s in a totally different financial situation, she has access to people and resources that Serpents just… don’t, whether because of money or prejudice. I think it’s a good thing to do.”

“I guess the only question would be… would the Serpents be willing to accept the help?” Veronica asked.

Cheryl hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe we can ask FP?” She looked to Betty, who lifted an eyebrow.

“You want me to ask my boyfriend’s dad, when I’m not even allowed to talk about this with my boyfriend?”

“Yes?” Cheryl answered. “FP already knows what’s going on.”

Betty sighed. “Fine. Let me text him.”

Veronica and Cheryl each picked out another dress while Betty texted FP, and then they decided they might as well all try on what they’d picked out, since they’d been standing around talking without really shopping for a little while.

Cheryl had picked out a scarlet red dress—which would fit in perfectly with her wardrobe—and also a black dress. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to wear black to prom, but none of the other colors had really stood out to her.

She went first in the dressing room, and tried on the red dress. It was tight around the top and around her hips, and then splayed out into a slightly flowy skirt around her legs, stopping around her ankles. It was very classic looking, and Cheryl was in love with it instantly. She could picture some jewelry that would make it absolutely perfect, and she smiled at herself in the mirror, before exiting the dressing room and walking out to show her friends. “What do you guys think?”

“That’s so you,” Veronica said, clapping lightly, “and it fits you perfectly.”

“Yeah, I love it,” Betty agreed.

“I don’t even want to try the black one,” Cheryl said, “but is this too… obvious of a choice for me?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Red is your color, Cheryl. Don’t start being ashamed of that _now_.” Cheryl smiled.

“Point taken. Alright. Let me change out of this, and then one of you can go.”

A few minutes later, Cheryl was sat on the couch outside the dressing room next to Betty, while Veronica tried on her first option. As they waited, Betty’s phone dinged, and she read something on it before looking to Cheryl. “So, that was FP,” she said, “he said he thinks it’s a good idea. Just, keep it kind of lowkey, I guess. I mean, it’s a drive, obviously you can spread word about it. I guess just… don’t make it look like, to the Serpents, that you pity them.”

Cheryl nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“If you become a Serpent, Cheryl, then you helping them will be a given, and they wouldn’t think there was pity involved at all. But you risk it by doing something big like this before you’re officially in,” Betty further explained.

“I got it,” Cheryl said, “okay. Well, I think I can manage to do it without it looking like pity—which it’s not. Sweet Pea will be helping me, and I’ll get Toni on board, but without her knowing _why_ I want to do it.”

“Okay,” Betty said, “well, you’ve got my support, Cheryl. If this is really what you want to do, I think you should do it.”

Cheryl smiled. “Thanks, Betty.”

Veronica appeared from the dressing room. “Did I hear that the donation drive is a-go?”

“Yes, you did,” Cheryl answered with a smile. “And that dress looks great.” Veronica was wearing a black, strapless dress that hugged her middle and hung more loosely around her hips and legs, stopping around her knees.

“Ooh, I love it,” Betty agreed, “ooh, and with your pearls, it would look _beautiful_.”

Veronica grinned. “Great. Well, let me try the other option, and we can pick between them.”

* * *

Cheryl was back at the trailer before Toni that night, and she draped her dress bag over Toni’s dresser, seeing as there wasn’t any place to hang it. She then took off her makeup and changed into pajamas. She’d had dinner with Veronica and Betty, since she knew that Toni wouldn’t be back from work until late. Once she was all ready for bed, she crawled under Toni’s covers to wait for her girlfriend.

Some amount of time later, she found herself waking up to gentle kisses on her temple and cheek. A smile found its way to her lips, and she hummed contently. “I can’t believe you fell asleep without me,” Toni teased, “was dress shopping that tiring?”

“No,” Cheryl muttered, rolling onto her back and looking up at Toni, who was propped up on her side next to her. “How was work?”

“It was fine,” Toni answered. “What was so tiring if it wasn’t shopping?”

Cheryl shrugged, rubbing her eyes and trying to figure out how to bring up the donation drive idea without giving herself away. When she moved her hands from her face and looked up at Toni, an idea came to her, and she said, “Oh, I meant to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“You know how I brought those clothes over and gave them away to people here?” Cheryl asked, and Toni nodded. “Well, while we were shopping, Veronica was talking about how she has old clothes she doesn’t need, and I was thinking… maybe we can do like, a clothing drive. For everyone here at Sunnyside.”

Toni looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Cheryl blinked. “Do you think that’s a bad idea?”

“I mean, no,” Toni answered, “but I guess… I guess I’m just surprised that you want to do that.”

“Why?”

Toni shook her head. “Never mind. I think that’s a good idea.”

“I was thinking maybe we could throw in like, canned foods and stuff too,” Cheryl suggested. “I don’t know. I just know that people over here could use it, and I know that money isn’t steady for most people here, and definitely not abundant if it is steady.”

Toni brought her hand to Cheryl’s face, brushing some hair away and stroking her cheek. “You’ve grown a lot, you know? Since I met you.”

“Yeah, that’s why you ended up liking and then dating me, isn’t it?” Cheryl asked.

Toni laughed a little. “No, that’s not why. I’m dating you because I think it’s beautiful that you _want_ to be better, and that you’re _willing_ to learn. Not to mention that you’re just… gorgeous and sexy and funny and badass and sweet.” Toni pushed Cheryl down flat on her back, and straddled her over her waist.

“Am I all those things?” Cheryl murmured, getting distracted as Toni began to slide her Serpent jacket off of her shoulders.

“Mmhmm,” Toni answered. She reached down and grabbed the bottom of Cheryl’s pajama shirt, pulling it up her body and slipping it off over her head, Cheryl lifting her arms to help get it off. “Did I mention sexy?”

“Maybe,” Cheryl answered with a little laugh, as Toni ducked her head down to grab Cheryl’s nipple in between her teeth. Cheryl inhaled sharply, her back arching. “Mm, Toni…”

“Shh,” Toni hushed her, her hands coming to Cheryl’s waist and grabbing her pajama pants, pulling them down, “no talking.” Cheryl felt heat pooling between her thighs as she let out a moan, biting down on her lower lip. “ _Shh_.”

Cheryl tried to be quiet as Toni trailed her lips from her boobs down to her belly button, and then down lower to the edge of her underwear. A whine wanted to escape Cheryl’s lips, but she pressed them together as Toni pulled down her underwear, discarding it off of the bed somewhere. Cheryl exhaled slowly, trying to be quiet, as Toni’s hands gripped her thighs firmly, her short nails digging slightly into her skin.

Toni slowly brought her lips to Cheryl’s center, and the redhead couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her lips. Toni immediately pulled away, and Cheryl whimpered. “Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Shh, baby, don’t you want to be good for me?”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip hard to keep from moaning, and she nodded to Toni to answer her. Toni smirked, ducking back down and bringing her tongue right to Cheryl’s clit. Cheryl did everything she could to stay silent as Toni teased her clit and her center, and finally, she brought her fingers into the mix and slid two of them inside of Cheryl, and Cheryl couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips.

Toni’s movements all froze, and Cheryl whimpered, “No, Toni, please.”

“I thought you were going to be quiet, baby?” Toni tutted, her lips still close enough to Cheryl’s clit to made her shiver.

“Please, Toni, please don’t stop,” Cheryl begged, “please, I need you, please.”

Toni hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know…”

“Please, I’ll do anything, Toni, please,” Cheryl pleaded, her hands coming to Toni’s hair and tangling her fingers into her hair.

“Mm, anything, huh? Well. I’ll keep that in mind, then,” Toni whispered, and finally, she brought her lips back to where Cheryl needed them, her fingers beginning to move again. Cheryl barely made any noise until she finally came, when she couldn’t help but let out a loud moan. She tried not to think about the fact that Fangs could probably hear her from his room when she regained control of her thoughts, her breath still heavy. “Good girl,” Toni murmured, pressing kisses up Cheryl’s thighs and then onto her midsection.

Cheryl hummed happily, as Toni settled onto the bed next to her. “That was so hot,” Cheryl informed her girlfriend.

“I’m glad you thought so,” Toni said with a little laugh. “So, as far as that ‘I’ll do anything?’” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll be saving that for later.”

“Don’t make me regret saying that.”

Toni laughed. “I don’t know if I can promise that…” Cheryl rolled on top of Toni suddenly, surprising the smaller girl.

“You better promise…”

“Sorry, babe, you’re the one who said it.”

Cheryl let out a little puff of hair. “Fine. I guess I’ll just have to do my best to make sure that you forget I said it.”

Toni quirked an eyebrow. “And just how do you plan to do that?”

“There’s one way I can think of…” Cheryl trailed off, and then her hands found the button on Toni’s pants, undoing them and pulling them—and Toni’s underwear—off of her girlfriend in almost one swift movement. Toni let out a noise of surprise, realizing that she was now naked from the waist down.

“I have a feeling that I’m going to like this,” Toni chuckled.

“Don’t get too excited,” Cheryl instructed, “you teased me… now I get to tease you…”

Toni smirked. “I think I can take it, Bombshell.”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

“I guess we will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, Cheryl is planning to join the Serpents! How do you all think that will go?  
> Thank you all for spending some time here to read this update. I appreciate all of you so much, and I appreciate all of the kudos and comments and tweets about the story. Don't forget you can hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana :) I will see you all on Thursday with the next chapter. x


	27. put a little love on me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni and the gang all go to prom!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends!  
> I just wanted to say upfront real quick that I know not everyone is on board with Cheryl becoming a Serpent and the things that usually go with it. I hope this hasn't deterred anyone from finishing out the story. I'll be completely honest with all of you, this is my first time writing a canon-esque story for any fandom in YEARS, I think since I wrote for Emison? Anyway, I think I forgot how hard it is to write about things from the show with slightly different contexts, it's tricky to navigate and yeah, not everyone enjoys all of it. Anyway, I appreciate you all being here, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy the rest of the story regardless.  
> Enjoy the prom chapter <3 xx

Throughout the next week of school, Cheryl bought and distributed close to thirty total prom tickets for people on the Southside, and she and Veronica wrote checks from their respective family businesses to contribute to the costs. Other than that, most of the week was spent preparing for prom. She ended up braving Thornhill one more time to get some jewelry from her bedroom, but she’d made sure that Jason was home and their parents weren’t before going. While she was there, Jason asked her when she planned on returning, and she admitted that she wasn’t sure, but maybe after prom. She just needed to have a talk with her mother first.

Prom preparation also included planning the after party. Of course, the main after party would be Reggie’s, but Cheryl had a feeling that some of her friends, especially those who were Serpents, wouldn’t necessarily be interested in that one. And if she was being honest, neither was she. So, she’d decided to host one herself. She’d wanted to ask Sweet Pea about perhaps hosting a bonfire party, but she wanted it to feel like real a high school party.

That was when she decided that _she_ would be hosting the after party, at Thistlehouse.

Thistlehouse was the Blossom’s second home. It had always been described as a cottage to her, but she was educated enough now to realize that it was still a very nicely sized house, although it was smaller than Thornhill. Still, it had a huge pool in the backyard and more than enough space for a party.

She’d all but forgotten about it, too, until during conversation about a potential party, when Sweet Pea had joked that it was too bad she couldn’t just buy a new house to move into.

So while Reggie hosted the Riverdale High after party, Cheryl was going to be hosting the all-inclusive after party, opening it up to both Northside and Southside junior prom attendees. Of course, senior prom was separate, seeing as it was on a different night.

In addition to planning prom throughout the week, Cheryl was also getting things ready for her donation drive. She made posters to advertise it, as well as in email for to send to various powerful people on the Northside. She mentioned the initiative to Principal Weatherbee, and he agreed that during the week following prom, they could put a donation bin in the cafeteria. She also had Betty ask her mom if they could put one inside the town news station, and she graciously agreed. A few other businesses agreed to add a donation bin as well, and Cheryl was feeling good about the whole plan.

She was still trying to figure out the best way to get the donations to the Serpents without making them uncomfortable or ashamed at accepting. Toni had talked to her more about the best way to execute it. It felt good to have Toni supporting her, even though she didn’t know what Cheryl’s plan for after the drive was over. Cheryl was still working on not just memorizing the laws of the Serpents, but doing her best to understand them, and to understand the commitment behind them. Additionally, she’s gotten FP’s phone number and was finally in direct contact with him about the plans for her initiation. He was on board with her plan and was organizing her initiation day.

On Friday morning, Cheryl was feeling on top of the world. She had the entire prom evening planned out, and all she had to do was to get through the school day. It wasn’t too bad, to be honest, she even got fewer glares from Heather, who was apparently on her best behavior for prom day.

Vixens practice was also canceled for the day, so that everyone would have enough time to get ready for prom and get to the Five Seasons by seven, when the event would begin. So Cheryl’s plan was to leave school and go to the Pembrooke—to Veronica’s apartment—where the two of them and Betty would all get ready together. Then, Veronica had booked a limo who would be picking them up, followed by Archie, Jughead, and Toni. Veronica had insisted that she and Archie didn’t mind fifth and sixth wheeling, that they just wanted to be able to hang out with the group despite not having their own dates.

The limo would be taking the group to dinner at the nicest restaurant in Riverdale, and then they would be heading to the Five Seasons. They would stay from seven-thirty—arriving fashionably late—until ten, at which point they would all head to Thistlehouse to kick off the party.

Cheryl had made sure to ask Sweet Pea and Fangs and Joaquin if they wanted to join the group’s plans, but the three of them insisted that all the fancy stuff wasn’t for them, so they would just meet them at the event.

Everything was planned to the T, and Cheryl was honestly feeling on top of the world. Nothing could bring her down.

At least, that’s what she thought until the last bell rang and she made a beeline for her locker, shoved her stuff away in it, and then hurried out toward the parking lot, so excited for the upcoming evening. However, as soon as she left through the front doors of Riverdale High, she was frozen in place. In front of her a few paces was Penelope.

“Ah, Cheryl,” Penelope said, “I’d forgotten you didn’t have Vixens practice today. Lucky me that I came early enough that you’re still here.”

“School _just_ let out,” Cheryl snapped. “What do you want, mother?”

“I haven’t been able to figure out where exactly you’ve been staying, so I figured that the best chance to find you would be to come here,” Penelope answered, “since I know you only missed two days of school, I knew I could expect you to be here.”

“Again, I’ll inquire, what do you _want_?”

“Dear daughter,” Penelope tutted, “why do you have to speak to your mother that way? Did you know that your pathetic friends practically traumatized poor Nancy, that morning when they stupidly came to kidnap you?”

“Kidnap me?” Cheryl demanded. “ _You_ were the one letting that strange woman take me out of the state to a gay conversion camp!” As she shouted it, Cheryl became suddenly aware that more people were around now, giving wide berth to her and her mother and watching in shock at the scene taking place.

“Come now, Cheryl,” Penelope hissed, “I was doing what I believed was best for you. Do you really want to cause a scene here? Come home, and we can talk this out like adults.”

“You have never treated me like an adult,” Cheryl snapped, “and I have no reason to believe that you would start now. Those people you refer to as my _pathetic friends_? They’re the only people who have ever treated me the way I deserve to be treated—not like a mistake or a disgrace or a tool whose use would someday expire. They care about me, and I care about them. They’re more of a family than I’ve ever had with you and father.”

Penelope let out an incredulous laugh. “They aren’t your family, Cheryl. _I_ am, whether you like it or not, and one day, you’ll have to come back home.”

“Yes,” Cheryl agreed, “and when I do, I will make sure that I’m untouchable. You will no longer be able to find ways to torment me, or attempt to send me away. You will understand that I will not be hurt by you anymore.” She took a threatening step toward Penelope. “Wait till you see what I’m about to become, Mumsie.”

“What on Earth are you going on about?” Penelope asked, actually looking a little scared.

“Cheryl,” Veronica interrupted, suddenly appearing next to her and resting her hand gently on her shoulder, “let’s just get out of here.”

Cheryl nodded stiffly, allowing Veronica and Betty to guide her away from her mother and toward the parking lot. “Are you okay?” Betty asked. “We tried to get people to keep walking, but you know the students here.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted, “I’m… okay. She was just the last person I expected to see here.”

“Well, forget about her,” Veronica insisted. “It’s prom day. You have everything you need to get ready in your car, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, then you’ll meet us at the Pembrooke?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered again, and then they split up to go to their separate cars. As soon as Cheryl was in hers, she grabbed her phone out and texted Toni.

**Cheryl – My mother showed up just now, at RH. We had a standoff in front of the school that probably like forty other students saw. I don’t even know how to feel right now.**

**Toni – Shit, well… just breathe, okay? You’re okay. Is she gone now?**

**Cheryl – Probably. Veronica and Betty got me away from her, and now I’m in my car, about to head to the Pembrooke. I just wanted to text you first.**

**Toni – Well, Veronica and Betty have your back. Don’t think about you mom, think about the amazing night we’re going to have tonight. Okay?**

**Cheryl – You’re right. I wish you were getting ready with us at Ronnie’s.**

**Toni – I thought you wanted the surprise effect when we see each other?**

**Cheryl – I do, but what if I can’t hold myself together after seeing my mother?**

**Toni – Cheryl, you are one of the strongest people I know. And I’ve seen you face off with your mother, and she might’ve thought she was going to get a win last week, but she didn’t. You did. You are standing on the high ground now, babe. Don’t forget that. Anything she’s doing to try and scare you is just her trying to crawl to your level.**

**Cheryl – Damn. You’re good at pep talks.**

**Toni – You’re just now realizing this? ;)**

**Cheryl – No, I guess not. Thanks, TT.**

**Toni – TT?**

**Cheryl – Do you hate it? When Sweet Pea called you Tiny Toni last week, I realized that TT sounded really cute. Plus, it’s also your initials.**

**Toni – So, as a nickname, TT? Like how you call Jason JJ?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, I guess so… you hate it?**

**Toni – No, but you better not let any of the guys hear you call me that. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.**

**Cheryl – You’re adorable.**

**Toni – Shut up, no I’m not.**

**Cheryl – Whatever you say, TT.**

**Toni – Aren’t you supposed to be headed to the Pembrooke right now? Are you texting and driving?**

**Cheryl – Fine, I’m leaving now. See you in about an hour?**

**Toni – Can’t wait.**

* * *

About an hour later found Cheryl, Veronica, and Betty all in their prom dresses, Cheryl’s red dress topped off with a black gemstone necklace and matching bracelet, dark red lipstick, and a slightly more complex version of her usual makeup look. Her hair fell in its usual waves, revamped using Veronica’s curling iron. Veronica and Betty were similarly done up, Betty’s blonde hair falling in tight curls, and Veronica’s straightened. “So, you swear there’s nothing going on between you and Archie?” Betty asked Veronica. “You’re just going with us as friends?”

“Yes,” Veronica insisted. “Would I have liked to have a date, of course. But I didn’t want to make it a big deal with someone who I wasn’t really interested in it. And Archie is one of my best friends. I already told you, we aren’t even hooking up anymore.”

“Maybe what you need is to get under someone else tonight,” Cheryl suggested, glancing at Veronica as she touched up her lipstick. “It is prom after all.”

Veronica lifted an eyebrow. “Why do I get the feeling that you have someone in mind?”

“Not really,” Cheryl lied, thinking back to the previous week, when she and Toni had noticed the tension between Veronica and Sweet Pea, “I just know that there’s going to be lots of single people looking for hookups.”

“I’m pretty sure almost everyone at Riverdale High has a date to prom,” Veronica said. “I overheard some of the Vixens on the prom committee talking about how almost everyone who bought a ticket bought two at a time.”

“Well, not everyone there will be from Riverdale high,” Betty reminded her, smirking a little and perhaps catching on to what Cheryl was suggesting.

Veronica lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, are you two in on something I’m not aware of?” she asked. “Who are you talking about?”

Cheryl shrugged. “No one in particular,” she lied again. “Just saying, if you need some action…”

“Cheryl and I can both attest to Serpents being a good time,” Betty teased, and Cheryl felt her cheeks warm up.

Veronica was blushing too a little, and she laughed a little as she shook her head. “You two are too much. _But_ , maybe I will keep that in mind.”

They were pretty much finished getting ready at this point, and the limo was ready for them outside, so the three of them grabbed their purses with their prom tickets in them and left the Pembrooke. Their next stop was Archie’s house, and he got into the limo wearing a suit, greeting them and complimenting their dresses. They chatted on the way to the Southside, where the limo pulled up in front of Sunnyside.

Toni and Jughead were already waiting by the entrance, and Cheryl felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw Toni through the window. Her dress was black, and it hugged her upper body just right, fluffing out a bit more on the skirt area, and reaching her knees. Cheryl wondered how short it had been on Felicity, who was significantly taller than Toni. Toni’s hair also looked a little more vibrant than normal, and Cheryl wondered if she’d left school early to touch up the purple and pink dye in it.

Jughead, who was standing next to Toni, was wearing a suit that didn’t quite fit him perfectly, and his usual beanie. “Does he ever take that thing off?” Cheryl wondered, and Betty chuckled.

“Not really.”

The limo driver got out to open the back door, and Toni and Jughead hesitantly came up to the car, climbing in. “Hey!” Veronica greeted them brightly. “Welcome to the Lodge Limo of the evening.”

Toni came and sat by Cheryl, who immediately reached for her head. “I’ve never even seen a limo in person,” Toni said, “let alone been in one.” Cheryl couldn’t take her eyes off of her girlfriend, and once the car started moving, and conversation started up between the other four, Toni finally glanced back at Cheryl again. “What are you staring at?”

“You look beautiful,” Cheryl answered. Toni also had a simple metal necklace on, and silver earrings, and her makeup was a little darker and bolder than normal. “Just… stunning.”

Toni’s lips twitched into a smile. “Thank you. You do, too. Sweet Pea and I had a bet going on this week about what color your dress was going to be, since you never told me. He thought you were going to go for something simpler than the obvious choice of red. I told him that you would never pass up an opportunity to _rock_ a beautiful red dress.”

Cheryl felt her cheeks warm up. “Well, you’ve won the bet then, TT.” Toni chuckled at the nickname.

“So how are you doing? After everything that happened earlier?”

“I’m okay,” Cheryl assured her. “Getting ready with Veronica and Betty was a good distraction. And if it wasn’t good enough, seeing you in that dress is the ultimate distraction.”

Toni smiled. “Happy to help, as usual.” She closed the distance between them with a kiss, which remained PG, but definitely lasted quite a few seconds, and eventually, Jughead snapped his fingers next to them.

“Okay, okay, save it for the after party,” he teased.

Toni flipped him off, and the rest of the group laughed. “Okay, so keep it on the DL, but…” Veronica opened up a compartment next to her area of the limo and produced a bottle of champagne.

“Ooh, we’re already drinking?” Betty asked.

“It’s prom, my friends,” Veronica answered with a grin. “Grab a glass—if you haven’t noticed, they’re all around you.” They each grabbed the glass closest to them and Veronica poured them all a generous glass of champagne. When she set the bottle down, she lifted her glass and said, “To our friendships and relationships, and celebrating our junior prom with the people who make us happy!”

“Cheers!” everyone toasted in response, then taking sips of the champagne.

The ride to the restaurant wasn’t long enough for them to drink enough to feel much, and they left their half full glasses of champagne in the limo as they climbed out in front of the building. They had reservations, so they were able to be seated and order their dinner almost right away. They all talked and laughed together as they enjoyed their meals, and Cheryl found herself feeling happier than she’d maybe ever felt, sitting here next to her girlfriend and people who she used to never even consider friends.

They all got the chance to finish their glasses on the trip from the restaurant to The Five Seasons, although that was an even shorter drive. When they got out of the limo, they saw a red carpet rolled out in front of the hotel doors. Prom was in an event room of the hotel, and they followed the carpet into the building and to the correct room.

Standing outside the room, Cheryl held her arm out for Toni. “Shall we?” Toni chuckled, accepting her arm, and they walked together, flanked by the rest of their friends, into Riverdale High’s Junior Prom.

The party had definitely already started, with music playing and lights flashing. Some platters of hors d'oeuvres were spread out on tables on the far wall, and tables and chairs were scattered around between those and the dance area, where most people were already gathered.

“This is one hell of a party,” Toni murmured, as the other four members of their party headed over to the dance floor, “Southside High proms were always in the gym.”

“Hey guys!” Sweet Pea exclaimed from behind them. Cheryl and Toni turned around in surprise, as he, Fangs, and Joaquin came up to them. “Fancy seeing you here.” Cheryl glanced at the three boys, surprised to see that they were all very cleaned up and wearing decent suits. Like Jughead’s, none of them quite fit perfectly, but she supposed that was probably because they were either hand me downs, or they were just borrowing them.

“You three look nice,” Cheryl complimented.

“Yeah, apparently, they _can_ comb their hair every now and then,” Toni teased. “You guys excited?”

“Hell yeah,” Fangs answered. “Come on, Joaquin, let’s get some of these fancy ass snacks.” The two of them went off towards the food, and Sweet Pea grinned at Toni and Cheryl.

“Sorry, don’t let me intrude on your date,” he teased. “I’m hoping to somehow turn this into a date for me too…”

“You going to seduce a Northside girl?” Toni asked with a chuckle.

“Stranger things have happened,” Sweet Pea insisted, looking between the two girls pointedly.

Cheryl smirked a little. “Well, I know at least one Northsider here tonight is looking for a hookup.”

“Veronica?” Sweet Pea asked, lifting an eyebrow. Cheryl just shrugged, and he grinned. “Thanks for the tip, Red.” He started off toward the dance floor, and Toni looked curiously at Cheryl.

“Are you suddenly playing matchmaker?”

Cheryl shrugged. “She could use it, trust me.”

“If you say so,” Toni said with a little laugh, which brought a smile to Cheryl’s face.

“So, Miss Topaz, would you care to dance?”

Toni bit down on her lower lip, which made Cheryl feel butterflies low in her stomach. “I’d love to.”

They found themselves on the dance floor, dancing along to the fast paced music. Like when they’d been at Reggie’s party, many weeks ago, Toni’s dancing was more than enough to distract Cheryl from anything else going on, not that there was much else trying to pull her attention away this time, thankfully.

The first time a slow song came on, Cheryl hesitantly wrapped her arms behind Toni’s head, and Toni’s hands came to her waist, and Cheryl felt her heart beating hard in her chest. She hadn’t ever slow danced with anyone, she realized. She’d danced with boys at dances in the past, but she’d never had the desire to slow dance with any of them—for obvious reasons.

Being so close to Toni, dancing to some slow love song that Cheryl didn’t recognize, with their lips so close and their eyes locked, was intoxicating. Toni had to tilt her head up to look at Cheryl, and Cheryl found it adorable.

The song ended, and suddenly Veronica, Sweet Pea, Betty, Jughead, and Archie were ambushing them as a line dance song came on—Cupid’s Shuffle. “You can’t have a high school dance without this song,” Cheryl told Toni, who laughed and grabbed her hand.

“Come on, guys, dance!” Veronica exclaimed.

“I don’t know the dance,” Sweet Pea admitted. “And hey, where’s Fangs and Joaquin? They should be here being forced to do this shit too!”

“The song literally tells you what to do,” Jughead told him. “Come on man, if I’m being forced to do this, you have to, too.” The dance finally started and everyone on the dance floor was in sync as they followed the dance steps, and after they’d turned around two times, Toni and Cheryl had the view of Sweet Pea and Jughead doing the dance, and Toni busted out into loud laughter.

“Oh my god, where’s my fucking phone? I need to get this on camera.”

Cheryl grabbed at her little purse, pulling her phone out of it and handing it over to Toni, who immediately stopped dancing and started to video her fellow Serpents dancing. The whole dance floor rotated again, and then Sweet Pea saw Toni videoing. “Hey! Asshole! Gimme that phone!”

Toni immediately took a few steps back, drawing the phone back as Sweet Pea lunged toward her. “Oh come on, it’s hilarious! You’ll love watching it later. And don’t think about touching this phone, it’s Cheryl’s.”

“All the more reason I could smash it—she can afford another one,” Sweet Pea snapped, but he just shook his head and let himself get pulled back to dancing by Veronica, who promptly instructed Cheryl and Toni to keep dancing too.

When it was over, Sweet Pea looked at Cheryl and Toni and said, “You’re lucky I like both of you, or else I would have to get payback for that shit.”

Fangs and Joaquin suddenly appeared next to the group. “What’d we miss?”

Sweet Pea jutted his chin toward the two guys and said, “You better get one of them, too, _that_ would be hilarious.”

“Wait—get what?” Fangs asked in confusion.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “You are all ridiculous. Come on, Toni, let’s dance.”

“Gladly, babe,” Toni replied with a smile, and they went back to dancing.

The evening went on like this, dancing and hanging out with the group, slow dancing occasionally. At some point, Toni and Cheryl decided to go get a snack on the other end of the event room, and once they had little plates of food, they went to sit at a table close to the dance floor. A few minutes after they sat down, one of the Riverdale High teachers got up onto the stage by the dance floor and grabbed a microphone.

“Good evening, students of Riverdale High—and Southside High,” she said, getting everyone’s attention, “I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. At this point, it is time to announce our prom royalty. First, let me read the names of the nominees.”

“Did you end up putting your name in for that?” Toni asked, looking at Cheryl curiously.

Cheryl let out a breath. It had actually completely slipped her mind the past few weeks. She’d been so focused on getting the Southside High kids allowed to go to prom, and figuring out this Serpent stuff, that she hadn’t remembered to do it in time. “No,” she answered.

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “I thought you didn’t want Heather to win it.”

“I decided that I don’t care,” Cheryl told her girlfriend. “I got what I wanted out of this night—to be able to take you to prom, and to let other Southside High students have a prom night, too. If Heather gets prom queen, then good for her, I guess. It doesn’t affect me.”

Toni smiled softly at her. “That’s very big of you, babe. I’m proud of you. I know this was important to you.”

“Thanks,” Cheryl answered with a little laugh. “There's always next year, which is what really matters anyway. Anyway, in my eyes, we are already queens. You, at least, look the part.”

Toni bit down on her lower lip again, and Cheryl felt warmth in between her thighs. “You too, babe. You look incredible tonight. And I know you already know it, but red? _So_ your color.”

“Quiet down, everyone,” the teacher called out, and everyone quieted, turning their attention back to the stage. “So, out of those nominees, our winner of Junior Prom Royalty is… _Heather Wright_ and _Reggie Mantle_!”

Cheryl made a disgusted face. “She went with _Reggie_?”

“I thought it didn’t affect you?”

“It doesn’t,” Cheryl insisted, “but I just can’t believe she stooped so low.”

“You rank Reggie lower than Cody?” Toni wondered.

Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t really know Cody well enough. But I do know that Reggie is a misogynistic asshole, and Heather slept with him like, two years ago, before swearing she would never even touch him ever again. And now look at them.” The two of them were walking to the stage, hand in hand. “She probably expected me to be her competition. And she knew that Reggie would get a lot of votes.”

Toni chuckled. “Maybe.” Heather and Reggie accepted their crowns, and then stepped back down to the dance floor as another slow song started, and they started dancing together. It did look a little awkward between them, which confirmed to Cheryl that they weren’t actually dating. “Hey, let’s get a couple more dances in before we leave?”

Cheryl blinked, looking back at her girlfriend and forgetting all about prom royalty. “Let’s.”

* * *

The limo dropped the six of them off at Thistlehouse at a little after ten in the evening. Three motorcycles followed behind them—Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Joaquin—but Cheryl was expecting to see more people turn up for the after party. She’d invited the Vixens, and mentioned it to Jason as well. She knew that most of them would end up at Reggie’s, but she figured that at least some people would show up to theirs.

And even if no one did, Cheryl couldn’t care less. The people who mattered were already there.

She’d actually gone to Thistlehouse the day before and made sure that things were presentable. The house used to be frequented by her family in the winter, but ever since her Nana had to be sent to live in a retirement home, it didn’t get much use. But it was still fully stocked with alcohol, which she’d taken the liberty of setting out on the counter, and there was a fully maintained pool in the backyard. Since it was finally edging on summertime, the pool may actually be an option too, but just in case it was still too cool, Cheryl turned the pool heater on low for good measure.

“I can’t believe this is your family’s _second_ house,” Sweet Pea muttered as they walked in. “How often do you guys even live in here?”

“Pretty much never,” Cheryl admitted. “It used to be my Nana’s house, until she moved into Thornhill with us. Now she doesn’t even live with us, so we pretty much never come here. That’s why I nearly completely forgot about it.”

“Imagine _forgetting_ you owned a second house,” Fangs mumbled, going over to the alcohol on the counter.

“Oh shut up, you two,” Toni snapped.

“How about some shots?” Archie suggested, grabbing a bottle of tequila.

“I’m down,” Veronica agreed.

Sweet Pea suddenly perked up. “Me too.” Veronica glanced at him and gave him a small smile, and Cheryl and Toni exchanged an amused look.

They took down two rounds of shots to start off the night, and just as they finished, there was a knock on the door. “More party guests?” Betty asked.

“I guess so,” Cheryl answered, going to the door and swinging it open. In front of her stood about half of the Vixens and half of the Bulldogs, including Jason. “Welcome, come on in.” She held the door open for everyone to come in, and she looked at Jason in surprise. “How did you convince so many people to come here instead of Reggie’s?”

Jason shrugged. “I told them that I was coming here, and they all wanted to come with. Do you forget that I’m _also_ popular?”

“But not more popular than Reggie and Heather,” Cheryl insisted.

Jason laughed. “Gee, thanks, sis. What are we drinking?”

“Apparently, Nana Rose had many options. They’re on the kitchen counter.”

The party only got bigger from there. A few other randoms from Riverdale High showed up, as well as some Southside High kids who weren’t Serpents, but had heard about this party being all-inclusive. Cheryl graciously invited everyone in, and pretty soon, the whole patio and living and kitchen area of Thistlehouse was full.

Cheryl found herself going around and trying to clean up after people a little bit, not wanting to have to deal with all of it later, but about an hour into the party, Toni finally came up to her. “Babe, have you even done anything fun since this party started?”

“I’m just making sure things don’t get too trashed,” Cheryl insisted.

“Two shots in and you’re still so responsible?” Toni asked with a laugh. “Come on, I think you need another.”

“Well, unlike you, TT, it takes more than a few drinks to get me drunk,” Cheryl said pointedly.

“Oh no, this is not a time for you to roast me for being small and therefore more of a lightweight than you,” Toni countered. “I don’t want you to get _drunk_ , I just want you to have a good time.”

“I am having a good time,” Cheryl insisted. Toni grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the patio.

“Okay fine, no more shots. How about a smoke?”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. “Fine.” Toni smiled, pulling Cheryl outside. There were a couple shirtless Bulldogs in the pool splashing around drunkenly, and some Vixens with their dresses hiked up and their feet in the water. Other than that, quite a few people were scattered across the patio drinking and talking loudly.

Cheryl and Toni leaned against the brick of Thistlehouse as Toni fumbled with her purse, pulling out a joint and her lighter. She lit it and handed it to Cheryl, who slowly took a hit, then passing it back to her girlfriend. “If this doesn’t work,” Toni said, after taking a hit as well, “I know _just_ the thing to relax you…”

“Oh yeah?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“You’ve got a room in this house, right?”

Cheryl bit down the inside of her lip. “Duh.”

“Lemme guess—it’s all red here, too?”

“I’m sorry, is you making fun of me supposed to be relaxing?”

Toni smirked. “Sorry.”

“I’ll definitely be sure to show you my room before the night is over, TT.”

“Good.”

After the weed was finally starting to affect her, Cheryl found herself feeling a lot more carefree about the evening. She was able to ignore the mess being created in the house, and instead enjoy her time dancing with Toni and with her friends. At some point, Sweet Pea came barreling towards the two of them. “Whoa, dude,” Toni said, “what’s up?”

“You got any open rooms in this house?” Sweet Pea asked, grinning.

“There’s like, five bedrooms in this house. All upstairs. Stay out of the red one,” Cheryl answered.

“Great, thanks!” He darted back off in another direction, and Cheryl gave Toni a curious look.

“Do you think it’s Veronica?” she asked, to which Toni just shrugged.

“To be honest, he doesn’t get hookups very often. He’d probably sleep with any of the Vixens.” Cheryl laughed, now glancing around the house curiously, wondering if she could spot Veronica anywhere. Suddenly, though, Toni was wrapping her arms behind her neck and drawing Cheryl’s attention back to her. “Who cares? I think he has the right idea, though…”

“There’s still so many people here,” Cheryl murmured.

“Isn’t Jason here?” Toni asked. “He can take care of it, right?” She brought her lips to Cheryl’s neck, pressing soft kisses there and teasing the sensitive skin with the tip of her tongue. “Come on, baby, show me your room…”

That was pretty much all it took for Cheryl to give in. She pulled away from Toni and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the stairs. Upstairs, she guided her down a long hallway and to her room. They walked past one door that they could definitely hear sex noises through, and Toni smirked. “They got to work fast.”

Cheryl opened her bedroom door to reveal a room almost identical to her Thornhill room, but a little smaller. Instead of a couch, there was a cushioned window seat and a red chair. The closet was a bit smaller too, but all of the size differences were basically insignificant. The room was still huge and furnished extravagantly.

“Damn, you should just move in here,” Toni commented.

“Technically, that could be a possibility,” Cheryl told her. “It’s technically in my Nana’s name still. But since my mother is still my legal guardian, not sure that would work. Once I turn eighteen, I bet my Nana would let me.”

Toni walked toward Cheryl’s bed, running her fingers over the comforter. She then looked back at Cheryl, who still stood by the door, which was still open. “Well, are you just going to keep standing there?” Toni teased. Cheryl closed the door, locking it, and walked closer to Toni. She brought her hands to Toni’s exposed shoulders.

“It’s weird seeing you without a Serpent jacket on for so long,” Cheryl admitted, her thumbs stroking Toni’s soft skin.

“It’s weird not wearing it for so long,” Toni responded. She brought her hands to the straps of Cheryl’s dress, pulling them over her shoulders and causing the dress to fall a little bit. Cheryl let out a breath, feeling her center wake up as Toni began to remove the dress from her body.

Cheryl began to take Toni’s off of her too, and pretty soon, they were dress-less, left only in their underwear. Cheryl had worn red lingerie today, which she’d almost forgot she’d done until Toni gaped at her almost naked body.

“Damn, you’re so sexy,” Toni murmured, her hands coming to Cheryl’s waist and pulling her close, their lips coming together. In a matter of seconds, they were somehow on the bed, Toni on top of Cheryl and pressing her into the soft, red comforter.

Cheryl felt fire inside her suddenly take over, and she pressed upward against Toni, and managed to flip their positions. Toni let out a moan as Cheryl got on top of her. “I told you I would take care of everything today,” Cheryl whispered into Toni’s ear, “and that includes you, TT.”

Toni whimpered as Cheryl’s hand began to drag down between Toni’s boobs, the reaching around underneath Toni’s back to undo the bra clasp. She threw aside the garment as soon as it was free from Toni’s body, and lowered her lips to Toni’s hardened nipples. She let her right hand trail down farther, settling in between Toni’s thighs, resting against her underwear teasingly. Toni released a groan, reaching her hand down and placing it on top of Cheryl’s, pressing her hand against her center.

Cheryl immediately flipped her hand and grabbed Toni’s, away from her girlfriend’s body and pinning both of her hands up by her head. “Don’t worry, Toni, I’ll take good care of you. I promise.”

Cheryl trailed her lips down Toni’s body, realizing that she was leaving a slight trail of red lipstick marks. Her lipstick was matte and long lasting, but that didn’t mean it didn’t get off onto things after a while. Cheryl liked it, though, seeing Toni with her lipstick on her.

When she reached Toni’s panties, she hastily removed them and then looked at Toni’s center, which was wet and radiating with warmth. “God, Cher,” Toni moaned, “just fuck me.” Cheryl bit down on her lip, looking up at her beautiful girlfriend, looking so desperate for her. “ _Please_.”

“Since you asked so nicely,” Cheryl joked. She finally lowered her lips to Toni’s center, dragging her tongue through her wet folds and letting out a moan as she tasted her girlfriend. Toni gasped loudly at the sensation.

Cheryl continued to eat out her girlfriend, reveling in the sounds she could get out of Toni, and finally added her fingers when she realized that her girlfriend was getting truly desperate to come. Toni’s hands tangled into Cheryl’s hair, pulling on it and somehow turning Cheryl on even more than she already was. Toni’s thighs began to squeeze against either side of Cheryl’s head as she got close, and Cheryl gasped in a bit of air before going extra hard all at once, her fingers intensifying their movements as her tongue did the same, and Toni let out a loud yell of pleasure as she orgasmed.

Her body went limp against the bed, and Cheryl carefully pulled away from her center, looking at the beautiful Serpent that was her girlfriend. She pressed some kisses to her thighs and over to where her tattoo was on her hip, pressing a kiss there too before finally coming up to Toni’s face to kiss her on the lips. Toni kissed her back deeply, definitely tasting herself on Cheryl’s lips.

When she broke away for some air, Toni murmured, “Damn, Cheryl.”

“Happy prom,” Cheryl said with a little smile.

Toni bit down on her lip. “God, Cher. You’re… fuck, I can’t even form words right.” Cheryl grinned. “You’re just… I don’t know—fucking incredible.”

“That was a big word, I’m impressed,” Cheryl teased, bringing her lips back to Toni’s in a sweet kiss.

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to give me a little bit before I can return the favor,” Toni said with a chuckle.

Cheryl grinned. “No rush. We have all night, after all.” Toni smiled, curling into Cheryl as her breathing finally started to slow again. Cheryl smiled to herself, thinking of nothing other than that this must be the most perfect night that she’d ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a bit of a late update today y'all, things are crazy. Feel free to find me on Twitter @BrittzandTana, otherwise I will see you on Sunday with Chapter 28 <3


	28. i'm ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is getting ready to tell Toni about her plan to join the Serpents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies. Thank you to those of you still here reading to finish off the story <3 It means a lot, I know that this story has been so long and that there's been some parts that not everyone has liked. But I promise, all of the Serpent stuff aside, you guys don't wanna miss the final two chapters of this story! I mean, we're all waiting for Choni to say those three words to each other still, right?  
> Enjoy chapter 28 <3

Saturday morning, Cheryl was happy to not have a hangover from the night before, because she and Toni had to sweep through all of Thistlehouse and clean all of the trash caused from the party. After that, they had to go and check all of the rooms, to make sure that there weren’t any stragglers.

At some point the previous night, Cheryl had remembered to text her friends that they were welcome to crash if they wanted to, so she did expect some of the bedrooms to be filled. So when they went around to all of them, they made sure to knock before just going in.

Sure enough, Jughead and Betty had occupied one room, and Sweet Pea and Veronica had taken another one. Cheryl was very proud of herself for setting the two of them up, even though she was sure it might’ve happened without her help.

They woke up all of their friends, and once Thistlehouse was cleaned up, everyone—other than Sweet Pea, who had his bike—called Archie to come pick them up. It was a tight squeeze, but it was just from Thistlehouse to the Pembrooke, where Cheryl and Betty’s cars were. When they got there, they all wished each other a good weekend and the group thanked Cheryl for the party, and they split off in their separate ways.

Cheryl drove her and Toni back to Sunnyside, and as they drove, Toni said, “Oh, by the way, I have to go to the Wyrm in a little while. There’s a Serpent meeting.”

“Oh—I know,” Cheryl told her, “actually, I’m going to be there too.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I was talking to FP about the donation drive, and he said I could come by to talk about it.”

“Have you thought that through?” Toni asked. “You know there’s a lot of Serpents who will gladly accepted the help, and there’s a lot of Serpents who are too proud to take anything that they didn’t earn.”

“I know,” Cheryl assured her girlfriend with a nod. “After the meeting, I’m going to go around town and empty the donation bins and see what we’re working with, then FP is going to help me set up a pick-up sort of area behind the Wyrm. We’ll have one Serpent working it at a time, FP said he’d get someone well respected who everyone likes. That way, there’s only one other person there when people come and pick stuff up, and there’s no shame associated with it.”

“And you really wanna be the one to tell all of them about it?” Toni asked.

Cheryl lifted an eyebrow, glancing at Toni as she drove. “Why? You don’t think I should?”

“Just… you don’t necessarily have the best reputation with some of the older Serpents,” Toni reminded her. “Your family has done a lot to hurt the Southside, in the past.”

“I know,” Cheryl assured her, “but don’t you think I could earn a slightly better reputation? I’m not like my parents. I want people to see that.”

Toni nodded slowly. “I’m not going to say you shouldn’t do it. You should do whatever you want. I’m just saying that you should be careful.”

“I will be,” Cheryl promised. “Plus, you and Sweets and Fangs have my back, right? And Jughead and FP. I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, nodding.

They made it back to Sunnyside, where they took turns showering and then changing out of post-prom night clothes. Cheryl redid her makeup, trying to gather the confidence to speak at the Serpent meeting. FP had told her that this was her big chance to get this right, and if it went well, she could get her initiation done pretty quickly after. If it went badly, it would take longer to get enough Serpents to agree on it.

Cheryl wasn’t exactly sure what the process was to Serpents agreeing on who was allowed in, but she knew that she needed to get this right.

Sweet Pea came by the trailer to meet up with them before going to the White Wyrm, and Toni happened to be in the bathroom when Cheryl let him in. “Where’s Tiny?” he asked.

“Bathroom.”

“Ah. So. You ready for this?”

Cheryl nodded. “I’m not worried. Or, rather, I’m trying to appear not too worried.”

“You definitely don’t want to seem worried,” he agreed, “but don’t seem to cocky either. You’re at _their_ service, right now. You’ve gotta seem humble. You’re doing this for them, and only them.”

Cheryl nodded. “Right. Yeah.”

Sweet Pea smiled. “You’re doing just fine, Red. You’ve got this.”

“Thanks, Sweets.”

The bathroom door swung open and Toni smiled at her best friend. “Hey Sweets. You ready to go?”

“Yep,” he answered. “Where’s Fangs at?”

“No idea,” Toni answered, “he wasn’t here when we got back. Maybe he had rounds this morning?” Sweet Pea shrugged, and Toni went into her room to grab her Serpent jacket. As she came back out, tugging it on, Cheryl imagined herself wearing one like it. “You okay, babe?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered quickly. “I’m ready to go if you two are.”

She was a little nervous, she realized, as she climbed onto Toni’s motorcycle and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. She tried to let the close contact and the soothing smell of Toni’s shampoo calm her down, but her nerves were worsening. What if something went wrong, and she couldn’t pull this off? What if everyone rejected her, even after all of this? What if this wasn’t really the family she was hoping it could be?

She took a deep breath, letting her eyes close and her body melt against Toni’s. Where had her confidence gone? She did her best to regather it, and once they got to the Wyrm, the butterflies in her stomach were gone. She climbed off of Toni’s bike and stood tall, taking off the helmet and setting it on the seat. “You ready, Red?” Sweet Pea asked her. She nodded. “Don’t let them freak you out.”

Toni offered Cheryl her hand, and she gladly accepted. “You’ve got this, babe,” Toni assured her, which made Cheryl smile. She wasn’t exactly sure that Toni was fully in agreement with this, but she was grateful that she was supporting her anyway. It made her feel even more appreciative of her girlfriend.

When they walked into the Wyrm, it was pretty much already packed with Serpents who were all talking and discussing things. Cheryl recognized very few of them, and she suddenly felt her heart racing. Eyes began to turn to her, and the noise began to die down as they all gaped at her being there. She’d come wearing her leather jacket, which somehow made her stand out even more—the only jacket without a mark.

“What the hell is this Northsider doing here?” someone demanded.

“Chill out, Tall Boy,” Jughead snapped, drawing Cheryl’s attention to the bar, where Jughead and FP were standing. “We asked her to be here.”

“What in the blazes for?” someone else shouted.

“Look,” FP called out to all of them, “we all know that business has been lax lately, which tends to happen in the winter. Summer is coming up, which means our job is about to get better. But we’d all be lying if we didn’t admit that we’re running short on supplies down at Sunnyside.”

“Wait,” someone interrupted, “are you saying that we’re accepting some sort of help from a _Blossom_?” FP took in a breath, and his eyes turned to Cheryl, and she knew that this was her chance. She let go of Toni’s hand and took a few steps further into the building, closer to the bar.

“You’re right, I am a Blossom,” Cheryl called out, “and I know that you don’t owe me any respect. It is _my_ family, and the people my family has supported in the past, who all owe you so much more than I could ever attempt to repay. You have been beaten down by the people who raised me. I know that you owe me nothing, but please, allow me to say a few things.”

No one objected, and then FP nodded to her again, and she continued.

“In the past few months, I have been fortunate enough to get a real look at the Southside—a place that I feared and hated all my life, without ever even having stepped foot in it. Since then, my eyes have opened to the beauty that is to be found here, to the hard working people who just want the best for their families. And I have realized my family’s part in ruining this side of the town.”

Toni was staring at Cheryl, her mouth slightly agape, and Cheryl took a deep breath.

“I cannot change what anyone on the Northside has done here, and I cannot promise that they won’t continue to hurt you. But _I_ would like to make it clear that I am _not_ a part of that, no longer. They cannot use me as their puppet—no one can. I have seen both sides of Riverdale, and one is full of hatred, the other full of support. I think you all know which is which.

“As I said, I can’t make up for the sins of my family. However, I have started a drive across the Northside to collect clothes and canned goods that may make your lives easier here, after a long winter. I understand if you would not accept them, but should you like to see what is available, later this evening a table will be set up behind the Wyrm. You are free to come up to the table, one at a time, without anyone else seeing you there, and collect what you will,” Cheryl explained.

“For today and tomorrow,” FP interrupted, “my boy and I will be manning the pickup area. No one else will find out whether or not you’ve chosen to accept these donations. If there are more to be given out during the week, I will select someone else to man the area as necessary. Understood?”

Nods could be seen all around the bar.

“Great,” FP said. “Thank you, Cheryl.”

Cheryl gave him a nod, and then began to walk back toward Toni. She wasn’t sure if she should make her exit now, but by the silence still in the room, she decided that she should. She quickly grabbed Toni’s hand, squeezed it, and then left through the front doors of the Wyrm.

As soon as it was closed, she could hear talking immediately erupt. Sighing, Cheryl began to pace by Toni’s motorcycle. After about five minutes of that, she decided that she couldn’t just stand around for however long this was going to take. She found herself walking around the Wyrm to the back alley, finding the pile of junk she hadn’t seen in multiple weeks. She pushed some aside and walked into the little space that Toni had taken her to all that time ago.

It was littered with sawdust and pieces of wood still, from the broken crates. Taking in a breath, Cheryl began to kick the pieces of wood out the hole, sawdust coming up around her and probably getting in her hair. She would need to bring a broom here, she decided, and clean it up. It was kind of sad seeing it so empty, without even a box to sit on.

She walked back to the motorcycles, finding them all still empty. She should’ve thought to bring her car, so she could’ve left to go start emptying the donation bins. She could probably walk back to Sunnyside, but she was wearing heels, and the idea wasn’t very appealing to her.

Instead, she pulled out her phone.

**Cheryl – Any chance you wanna help me go and empty all the donation bins around town?**

**Veronica – Hell yeah! You wanna pick me up, or should I get you?**

**Cheryl – I’m outside the White Wyrm right now without a car.**

**Veronica – I guess I’ll come get you then! Hang tight!**

About ten minutes later, Veronica pulled up in her car, and Cheryl slid into the passenger seat. “Thanks,” she said immediately, “I came to this Serpent meeting to talk about the donation drive, but I forgot that I wasn’t going to be able to stay for the whole thing. And I rode here with Toni.”

“You know the trailer park is like, a max twenty minute walk away, right?”

“I _know_ ,” Cheryl said with an eyeroll, “but it was still faster for you to come here, wasn’t it?”

Veronica chuckled. “Alright, where to first?”

They drove around town to where all of the donation bins were, and Cheryl was ecstatic to find that there were actually quite a lot of donated items—both clothes and food. There were also a few folded up notes with some rude things written on them—courtesy of the Bulldogs, no doubt—but Cheryl was happy with the amount of things that they collected.

“I actually forgot to grab some things for them,” Veronica admitted. “Let’s swing by the Pembrooke and I can get them?”

So they stopped at Veronica’s apartment and the girl grabbed a trash bag full of clothes out of her closet, and then went into her parents’ pantry and tossed in numerous cans.

“They won’t even notice,” Veronica insisted, “they aren’t even the ones who fill the thing every week.”

With the last of the stuff in Veronica’s car, they headed to Sunnyside, where they transferred all of the things into Cheryl’s car so that she could take it to the Wyrm in a little bit. “Thanks for the help,” Cheryl said gratefully.

“Anytime,” Veronica replied brightly. “So, how do you think it went? Talking at that Serpent meeting?”

“It was actually pretty good… I think,” Cheryl answered, and then she suddenly remembered something. “Speaking of Serpents, though… how did you enjoy last night?” She quirked up a curious eyebrow, and Veronica let out a laugh.

“It was good,” she answered. “He’s sweet.”

“True to his name,” Cheryl teased, and Veronica rolled her eyes.

“He’s sweet,” she repeated, “but I think it was just a one-time thing.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. You and Betty may be cut out for dating a Serpent, I’m not sure I would be.”

“Why not?” Cheryl asked.

Veronica sighed. “My parents are even worse than your parents when it comes to the Southside. My father would be _so_ happy if every Serpent just vanished tomorrow. I can’t even imagine what he would say if he found I was interested in one.”

“Well, I’ve decided that I couldn’t care less what my parents think,” Cheryl stated flatly.

“Yeah, we all heard you threatening your mother yesterday,” Veronica teased, but then her smile disappeared. “I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m ready to pull away from my family, as terrible as they are. I think you’re really brave for being able to do that, Cher. Really.”

Cheryl smiled sadly at her friend. “Thanks, but I don’t feel brave for doing it.”

“Well, you are,” Veronica assured her. “Telling off the people who are your own flesh and blood? It’s a huge thing. I’ve tried it before, and I always end up back where I started. You know, I try to help people and do better than my parents. But maybe I am just destined to end up as the CEO of Lodge Industries one day.”

“You’ll be the best CEO they’ve ever had,” Cheryl swore, “and the company will be better than ever before.”

Veronica smiled. “You know what? You’re right. If that is my destiny, at least I’ll do it right.” Cheryl returned the smile, and then her phone buzzed in her hand.

**Toni – What happened to you??**

“Shit,” Cheryl cursed, “I forgot to tell Toni I left the Wyrm.”

**Cheryl – Oh shit, sorry! Veronica picked me up, we just got all the stuff from the donation bins. I’m at the trailer.**

**Toni – Alright, you wanna bring the stuff here now, or should I come back there?**

**Cheryl – I’ll bring it now.**

“Everything okay?” Veronica asked.

“Yeah. I need to bring all of these donations to the Wyrm.”

Veronica nodded. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it then.” Cheryl nodded, starting to walk to the driver side door of her car. “Oh, wait—Cheryl?”

“Yeah?”

Veronica blushed a little. “Could… could you give me Sweet Pea’s number?” Cheryl laughed, a grin coming to her lips.

“I’ll text it to you.”

And she did, as Veronica drove out from Sunnyside and before Cheryl drove to the Wyrm. She was happy to hear that Veronica was actually considering some sort of relationship again, even if not a serious one.

The drive to the Wyrm was short, and when she pulled up to it, most of the motorcycles that had been parked outside of it were gone. Standing in front of the bar talking were FP, Jughead, Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Toni.

As Cheryl got out, they started walking toward her and her car. “Congrats, Cheryl,” FP called, “that was one hell of a speech you gave.”

“Really?” she asked.

“I expected them to boo you a few sentences in,” Jughead admitted, “but they were quiet. That’s about the best a non-Serpent can expect from a group of Serpents.”

Cheryl smiled. “Well, that’s great to hear.” She glanced at Toni quickly, and then back at FP. He knew that few people were aware of her plan to become a Serpent, and he had promised to keep the information on the low down until her initiation. So any discussion about that would have to be had at a later time.

“Did you check the bins?” Fangs asked.

“Yeah, we got a lot actually,” Cheryl answered. “And I’ll check every day this week too and bring anything else that turns up here too. They don’t get taken down until Friday.”

“Great,” FP said. “Boys, Toni, you wanna unload her car for her and bring the stuff behind the Wyrm?”

Toni, Jughead, Sweet Pea, and Fangs nodded and Cheryl unlocked and opened her car so that they could get to work. That just left Cheryl and FP standing in the parking lot as the four of them began carrying bags of clothes and food off. He gave her a nod.

“Really, you did good, kid.”

“Thank you… and thank you again for letting me talk to them. I really wanted to get it right.”

“I’m sure you’re still going to get people telling you off when you start initiation, but you’ll just have to ignore them, alright?” Cheryl nodded. “So. You know the steps to initiation. You’ve been preparing, right?”

“Yes,” Cheryl assured him, “I know them and I’m ready for them.”

“Okay. Then where should I send Hot Dog on Friday?” FP asked. “I know you haven’t told Toni yet, but if you’re still going to be at her trailer…”

“Yeah, I’ll watch him at the trailer,” Cheryl told him. “And I’ll tell her before then. I want to make sure she’s going to back all of this anyway.”

He nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Well, I just need to consult with a few other Serpents—that’s sort of the tradition. Multiple people have to agree on you joining, but not necessarily everyone. So probably on Wednesday or Thursday I’ll announce the initiation meeting for Saturday.” Cheryl nodded. “You _sure_ you’re ready for this, Cheryl?”

“I’m sure,” Cheryl swore.

“Okay. Oh—also, I’ll have your jacket for you on Saturday too. We’ll start on getting it ready tomorrow.”

Cheryl blinked. “Oh—about that… I have some ideas regarding the jacket…”

FP lifted an eyebrow. “There’s only so much I can do about this sort of thing, Cheryl. What are you thinking?”

“If I could get my hands on a non-traditionally colored leather jacket, could the Serpent symbol be put on that instead?”

“I guess I don’t see why not,” FP answered, “but it’s going to draw lots of attention.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I’m not bothered by attention.”

“Alright. If you can get that to me by, say, Tuesday, we’ll have it ready on Saturday.”

Cheryl smiled. “Alright, sounds like a plan. Thank you so much, FP. For all of your help.”

“No problem. Pretty soon, you’re going to practically be family, so.”

Cheryl couldn’t help but smile at that. Yeah, a few months ago, the idea of Jughead Jones’ dad being part of a theoretical family would’ve entirely weirded her out, and now it was making her so happy. The whole idea of it in general.

She was beyond excited for Saturday.

* * *

That week, Cheryl spent her time outside of school bringing donations from around Riverdale to the White Wyrm, and she was pleased to see that they were being collected by many Serpents. It made her happy to know that they weren’t all rejecting the help just because it came from her. On top of that, she spent time running through the Serpent laws over and over. She would write them on scratch paper at school, she would say them in her head while she drove, and mumble them aloud while she showered. She was starting to get a little nervous that she would mess up.

She was especially getting nervous about the other parts of initiation. Watching Hot Dog was a nonissue—she’d never had a pet of her own, but she’d always wanted a dog. She also wasn’t even too worried about reaching into a glass tank with a rattlesnake in it to grab a knife. She was sure that even if she did get bitten, she would be fine. But she was definitely getting nervous for the last part.

Cheryl had never been one to really been _afraid_ of dressing scantily or presenting herself as a sexual being, even if she hadn’t ever been regularly sexually active until dating Toni. However, one thing she hadn’t ever done was practically striptease in front of a crowd—or anyone, really.

She’d been texting Sweet Pea about it, trying to get an idea for what to expect. He told her that it wasn’t really stripping, more of just a dance. Apparently, there was some traditional Serpent dance, but in the past few years, it had become a little less vulgar, and now there weren’t as many rules as far as what to do. Cheryl wasn’t sure that made it any easier to work herself up to actually doing it.

And that, she was realizing, was one of the reasons she really needed to tell Toni about all of this. _Soon_.

At lunch on Thursday at school, Cheryl needed to talk about it, but she hadn’t told Jughead or Archie about it either, so she supposed that it was time that everyone started to find out.

“So…” Cheryl said, interrupting whatever chatting had been happening. “Veronica and Betty, you guys already sort of know about this, but… this Saturday… I’m getting initiated into the Serpents.”

Jughead practically choked on his food for a second, and Archie’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait—what?” Jughead demanded.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered. “It’s a couple weeks in the making. I’ve been planning it with Sweet Pea and FP.”

Jughead was gaping at her, and Veronica said, “So exciting! Are you nervous?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“A _little_?” Jughead demanded. “Cheryl, do you even know what you’re getting yourself into? This is a _gang_ , not some after school extracurricular.”

“Jughead,” Cheryl said firmly, “you are not the first person to remind me of that. Okay? Sweet Pea has really been walking me through all this. And your dad is on board too.”

“So Toni doesn’t know?” Archie asked.

Cheryl let out a breath. “I’m telling her right after school today.”

“Why haven’t you told her before now?” Jughead snapped.

“Because,” Cheryl answered, “I didn’t want her to talk me out of it before I even got to feel it out. And also, I didn’t want her to think I’m doing it for her sake or something like that. But now, I’ve had time to process it all and figure out what it’s going to mean for me. If I tell her today and she has really, _really_ good reasons for me to not do it, and she doesn’t want me to… I’ll call it off. But I wanted her to know I was serious about it.”

Jughead was clenching his plastic fork. “You really think she’s not going to be pissed that you _didn’t_ tell her?”

“That’s going to be my problem to deal with,” Cheryl snapped at him.

“Jug,” Betty interrupted them, grabbing his hand, “she’s really serious about this, okay? Calm down, please?”

Jughead let out a breath. “Fine.”

“Are you nervous for the dance?” Betty asked Cheryl, who bit on her tongue a little as she nodded.

“Yeah. Sweet Pea has been trying to give me advice, but he obviously has no first-hand experience. I’m going to talk about it with Toni, hopefully, tonight,” Cheryl said.

“If Toni had her way,” Jughead said, sounding more levelheaded now, “that tradition would be squashed immediately. I mean, a lot of us younger Serpents want it abolished. But we can’t get it done right now, not with how many older Serpents there still are.”

Cheryl nodded. “Yeah. I’m not really excited about it.”

“You’ve got this,” Veronica assured her. “Seriously, Cher. You’re a _badass bitch_ , and if anyone can sexy dance in front of a crowd while holding on to all her dignity and _owning_ herself, it’s you.”

Cheryl gave her a tight lipped smile. “Thanks. I guess I just can’t help being nervous about it.”

“You’re gonna do fine,” Jughead told her, and now Cheryl’s smile became a little more relaxed, now that Jughead was on her side instead of trying to attack her about not telling Toni. “It’s not very high stakes. It’s the last thing you do, and as long as you _do_ something, you’re in.”

“That makes me feel better,” Cheryl admitted, “thanks.”

They resumed eating their lunches, and their gazes were suddenly pulled to the sound of annoying giggles. Heather and Reggie were hurrying into the cafeteria, both looking a little disheveled. Betty asked, “Are they _actually_ dating?

“If they are, it won’t last long,” Cheryl answered. “She tried and failed with Reggie once before—just like every other guy she tries to date.”

“Some of the other Bulldogs think she’s just trying to make Jason jealous,” Archie told them.

“Jason wouldn’t go back to her,” Veronica stated surely, “right, Cher?”

“I doubt it, yeah,” Cheryl agreed. “He was pretty vocal about wanting to make things right between us, and we both know by now that all Heather does is get in between us.”

“Does it bother you?” Betty wondered. “Seeing her try and go back after your brother?”

Cheryl shrugged. “Honestly? I really couldn’t care less what she does anymore. I’ve never felt so separated from her, and I’ve never been happier.”

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised you let her have prom queen,” Jughead admitted.

“I was busy with other things. Like organizing the donation drive and preparing for initiation. Those were more important to me than becoming prom queen,” Cheryl told him. “Plus, it’s just junior prom. Maybe next year I’ll really go for it. Heather doesn’t have a lot of great things in her life—she does a good job of losing the best parts of her life because of the way she acts. If prom queen could give her some amount of happiness for a few days, then I’m happy for her.”

Jughead looked really impressed. “Damn, Cheryl. I’ll admit, I never thought I’d hear something like that come out of your mouth.” Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “I just mean that I think you’ve changed a lot over the past few months.”

“It’s amazing what’ll happen when you escape the toxic people in your life and remember how much of a badass bitch you are on your own. And when you realize who your real friends are, I guess,” Cheryl said with a small smile, glancing around the table at her friends. “Oh, and _speaking of_. Assuming everything does go well on Saturday, Sweet Pea wanted me to tell you all that there’ll be a bonfire at Sunnyside that night. You’re all invited—including Veronica and Archie.”

Veronica grinned. “Oh my god! I finally get to go to one of the famed bonfire parties!” Cheryl chuckled a little and started to finish her food. All that was left to do now, before Saturday, was to talk to Toni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter wasn't very long, the last two chapters are a pretty decent length, so hopefully that will make up for it. Ah! In one week, this story will be completely posted y'all! I'll wait till then to get super sappy, but I seriously appreciate you all for joining me on this crazy (sometimes bumpy) ride.  
> So update on the Toni POV, I haven't touched it in a few weeks, and I don't know if I'll go through with finishing it. I actually am almost 50,000 words into a story I started last week lol, it's a lot more fun and lighthearted than this one and I'm excited to post it. I might actually finish it within the next week too haha. It won't be as long as this story, but it'll be a pretty decent length.  
> Anyway, I hope you all have a good week, I have 3 exams this week and a project due that my group members are supposed to be finishing, oof haha. I will see you all on Thursday, or on Twitter @BrittzandTana in the meantime <3 Thank you all for joining me for this update today!!


	29. i just get higher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No Serpent Stands Alone... :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good afternoon friends! I'm so sorry I forgot to update this yesterday! I've been in a very distressed state the past couple of days, I have a lot going on and I'm not always the best at managing my stress lol. I've been spending a lot of time writing and reading fanfic to try and destress, and amidst everything yesterday, it slipped my mind to update.  
> This morning though I had a virtual interview and then finished binging that coyote ugly choni fic "i want to exorcise the demons from your past" and it was so freaking good, no idea how I hadn't read it before lol.
> 
> Anyway! The point is that here I am, and I'm sorry this is late but I hope you will all still enjoy! xx

When Cheryl drove up to Toni’s trailer after school on Thursday, Toni and Fangs were both already home—their bikes both parked outside. Cheryl was about to have to tell Toni that she was going to be initiated as a Serpent on Saturday, and after her conversation with Jughead about it, she had no idea how Toni would react. She wanted to think that Toni would understand where she’d come from, but it wouldn’t surprise her if her girlfriend was angry, too. Cheryl didn’t realize that she’d be so nervous about telling her.

She walked into the trailer to find Fangs and Toni seated on the couch, talking, and Cheryl took in a breath, knowing that she needed to pull Toni aside. “Oh, hey Red!” Fangs greeted her.

Toni looked over at her and smile as well. “Hey, babe. How was school?”

“It was good,” Cheryl answered with a nod, as Fangs’ phone dinged with a text. “Actually, I—”

“Oh shit,” Fangs said suddenly, “FP just texted everyone. There’s going to be an initiation ceremony on Saturday.” Cheryl silently cursed FP for choosing right now to tell everyone that. Honestly, she’d figured that he’d told everyone the previous day, on Wednesday, but of course her luck would result in Toni finding out right now.

“Really?” Toni asked, furrowing her eyebrows and grabbing her phone. “I wonder who it is? Wouldn’t we like, have an idea already?”

“Toni—” Cheryl started.

“Wait, I’m going to text Sweets real quick and ask if he knows,” Toni said, her eyes still down on her phone. Fangs was looking at Cheryl though, she noticed, realization on his face.

“Toni, could I talk to you real quick?” Cheryl asked, and Toni looked up at her finally. Toni blinked, glancing over at Fangs and perhaps wondering why his expression was what it was. “In your room?” Toni nodded, and got up from the couch. They walked into Toni’s bedroom, closed the door behind them, and Cheryl took in a deep breath.

“It’s me,” she stated plainly. “I’m the one who’s doing initiation on Saturday.”

Toni’s jaw practically dropped. “Wait… seriously? And you didn’t tell me?”

Cheryl took a deep breath. “Look, you have every right to be mad at me. But I have really good reasons for not telling you, I promise.”

Toni crossed her arms. “Okay, go ahead. Tell me the _really good_ reasons.”

“Well, for one, I didn’t want you to think I was doing it for you. I didn’t want you to think I hadn’t thought it through, and trump the idea before I could even get my feet in the water. I wanted to feel it out,” Cheryl explained herself. “I wanted to make sure that I could handle it on my own. I didn’t want to be able to become a Serpent just because I’m dating you. I wanted to do it of my own merit. I wanted to prove to everyone—and even to myself—that I could do this.”

“So… this whole donation drive?” Toni asked. “It was all to win you points?”

“It’s not like that,” Cheryl snapped. “I did it to prove that I want to help the Serpents, to prove that I care. _Of course_ , I want the Serpents to like me! But me wanting to join the Serpents isn’t coming from a selfish place. I want to be a part of this family, yes, but I want to be able to contribute too, okay? And you know that so many of the Serpents wouldn’t have thought I could ever do anything meaningful to contribute unless I proved it.”

Toni took in a breath. “Okay. Valid point.”

“Look, TT,” Cheryl said, “you have to understand… if you were the one helping me navigate this process… people wouldn’t have taken me seriously. I would’ve looked like the girlfriend who was joining because of you. And I wanted _you_ and _everyone_ to know that I’m serious about this. I’m serious about wanting to be a real part of this family, of helping everyone here.”

Toni’s expression finally softened. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. I forgive you for not telling me,” Toni clarified. Cheryl felt herself relax. “But I have more questions.”

“Ask away.”

“If I couldn’t be the one to help you navigate this, who was?”

Cheryl bit down on the inside of her lip. “Sweet Pea.”

“So you got my _best friend_ to keep this a secret from me too?” Toni exclaimed.

“I’m sorry,” Cheryl apologized, “really, Toni. Don’t be mad at him, alright?”

Toni shook her head, and walked around Cheryl to sit on her bed. “Who else knew?”

“FP, obviously. And I told Veronica and Betty.”

“How long have you been planning this?” Toni asked.

Cheryl hesitantly came to sit next to Toni on the bed. “Since you saved me from getting taken away to conversion therapy. You were making me breakfast, and Sweet Pea, Jug, Fangs, and Joaquin called me family. I’d never felt so accepted by a group of people, and knowing how different we were, and how open they’d all been to me despite what I mean to people on the Southside… I never deserved any of that. I never deserved any of the nice things that you did for me either.”

“Cheryl…”

“It’s true, Toni. I said horrible things about the Southside and about the Serpents, to your face, all the time. And you still helped me,” Cheryl whispered. “And the more of the Southside I saw, the more I fell in love with all of the little things here.” She dropped her gaze to her lap. “I finally got to feel what it’s like to have a real support system, a real family. And maybe I am a little selfish, because I want that all the time. But of course, I’m going to do my best to pull my weight, I don’t expect—”

Toni’s hand was suddenly pulling Cheryl’s chin up, and she brought her gaze to meet Toni’s eyes. “You don’t have to explain anymore,” Toni whispered. “I support you, okay?”

“Really? You’re not going to try and talk me out of it?”

“No,” Toni promised, a small smile coming to her lips. “I’m… maybe a little upset that you didn’t tell me earlier. But… I’ll admit, you’re saying all the right things right now.”

Cheryl chuckled, leaning into her girlfriend, who wrapped her arm around her tightly. “I won’t keep anything else from you,” Cheryl whispered. “I’m sorry I did.”

“It’s okay,” Toni said. “So… you’re really doing this, huh?”

“I’ve had the Serpent laws memorized for almost two weeks now,” Cheryl answered, “and Hot Dog will be here in the morning, I presume.”

“And you’re ready to stick your hand in a tank with a snake in it?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Toni gently rubbed the pads of her fingers on Cheryl’s upper arm. “What about the dance?”

“I’m nervous.”

“I’d think you were going crazy if you weren’t nervous.”

“Sweet Pea tried giving me advice, but…”

“But he’s never done it,” Toni finished for her. “Well, I can think of something that might help you.” Cheryl glanced up at her girlfriend.

“What’s that?”

“Well, I can show you _my_ dance,” Toni answered.

Cheryl knit her eyebrows together. “You have like, a video of it?”

“No,” Toni answered softly, “but I remember it…” She stood up from the bed and faced Cheryl. “If you wanna see it, of course.” Cheryl felt her mouth go dry, and she nodded. “You’re gonna just have to pretend that there’s music…”

Cheryl leaned back onto her hands, and Toni began to sway a little in front of her. “There’s no way you were wearing that many clothes?” Cheryl asked.

Toni’s lips turned into a smirk. “No.” She let her Serpent jacket fall off her shoulders, tossing it onto the bed next to Cheryl. “I was wearing a black lingerie set.”

“How come I’ve never seen this lingerie set?” Cheryl asked.

Toni shrugged. “Maybe it makes me remember it.”

Cheryl frowned. “Wait—stop, come here.” Not that Toni had really started dancing yet anyway, but she obeyed, taking a step forward so that she was standing right in front of Cheryl. “I don’t want to see it, not if it’s going to give you bad memories.”

Toni sighed. “I thought it would be okay, since it’s just you. But maybe it was a little more traumatizing than I thought.” She laughed a little, but Cheryl didn’t.

“My TT,” she said softly. “I’m sorry that you had to do that so young.”

“I wish no one had to do it,” Toni muttered. “It’s so fucked up. I don’t want you to have to do it either.”

“I know what I’m getting myself into, Toni.”

“It doesn’t matter. I still don’t want you to have to do it,” Toni insisted. Suddenly, she seemingly decided, “I’m gonna talk to the guys and FP tomorrow.”

Cheryl blinked. “About the dance?”

“Yes,” Toni answered. “Maybe we can figure out a way around the rule.”

“Like what?”

“Like… maybe doing the dance in front of _one_ Serpent is enough?” Toni asked.

Cheryl frowned. “You mean just in front of you?” Toni nodded. “TT… that would be amazing. But… do you think the rest of the Serpents would really accept me as one of their own if I didn’t follow through on the tradition?”

“If they didn’t, I would fuck them up,” Toni snapped, bringing her hands to Cheryl’s hair. “Are you going to be mad if I talk to FP about it?”

“No, of course not.”

“Okay, then I’m going to. I don’t want you to inadvertently traumatize yourself,” Toni insisted. Cheryl smiled sweetly.

“How did I get so lucky for you to be with me?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Oh shut up.” Cheryl reached up to wrap her hand behind Toni’s neck, pulling her down for a kiss.

When it ended a second later, she murmured, “Seriously, though.”

“Because,” Toni started, smirking, “you seduced me with your hatred of the Southside.”

“You are ridiculous.” Cheryl shook her head, sliding her shoes off of her feet and scooting up on Toni’s bed, leaning slightly against the pillows.

“Fine,” Toni said, sitting on the bed near Cheryl’s feet and facing her. “ _Really_ , it’s because you surprised me. You were… callous and rude when I met you, but I could tell you were hurting. I wanted to help you, because I’m sucker for beautiful girls and, like I said, I could tell you weren’t doing great. At best, I expected a thank you at the end of all of… whatever was going to happen. But then, you surprised me, Cheryl. You started asking me about… _me_ , and wanting to help me with all the shit I was going through. You wanted to hear about my past and you wanted to learn about the Serpents. And _that_ was pretty much the last thing I ever would’ve expected from you.”

Cheryl nodded slowly, unsure of what to say in response. She had so many feelings that wanted to pop out, but the words wouldn’t come to her. Toni stared into her eyes with a dark, powerful gaze, hypnotizing her.

“You know,” Toni murmured, inching closer to Cheryl, “maybe I should’ve known that you were interested in joining the Serpents. You asked me a lot about us. You even asked Sweet Pea about the Serpents, even before you started sneaking around behind my back.”

“Well, I was curious,” Cheryl justified quietly.

Toni was on top of Cheryl’s legs now, and she got herself into a straddling position across Cheryl’s lap. “I loved that you were curious,” she admitted quietly. “And I remember when you started making up excuses to talk to me… and then when you gave up on them…” Cheryl bit down on her lower lip, wanting to say something back but not able to think of the right words. “You surprised me in so many ways, Cheryl, and any expectations I had were blown out of the water. And _that_ is really how you _seduced_ me.” She smiled a silly smile at the redhead, who couldn’t help the little chuckle that escaped her mouth.

“Oh, TT…” Cheryl trailed off, bringing her hand up to Toni’s hair and pulling her fingers through some of it gently. Her emotions were a whirlwind in this moment, and she could hardly grasp onto anything long enough to form it into words. Until it hit her, pouring out of her mouth without her consent, “I love you.”

Toni blinked, a look of surprise on her face as Cheryl herself gasped slightly at what she’d just said. She felt frozen in time for a moment, and she wondered if she should apologize or try and take it back. It was true, she knew that, but was it too soon to have said it? Was it a bad time? Had she fucked up?

And then she heard, “I… I love you, too, Cher.”

“Really?” Cheryl heard herself asked.

Toni laughed a little. “Yes. Really. Wow. I… I wasn’t expecting you to say that first.”

“Me neither,” Cheryl admitted, a blush coming to her cheeks. “Just… you make me a better person, TT. I love who I am when I’m with you. I love spending time with you, whether it’s kissing or talking or just sitting… and just… I love you.”

“I love you,” Toni replied, her lips quirking into an adorable smile. Cheryl grinned, pulling Toni’s face to hers to press their lips together in a firm kiss. Toni pushed her tongue through into Cheryl’s mouth, taking control of the kiss instantly and pressing Cheryl back into the pillows. Cheryl let out a little moan, wrapping her arms around Toni tightly.

When they broke apart for air, Cheryl murmured, “Well, this conversation went infinitely better than I’d anticipated.”

“I can still be mad, if you want,” Toni suggested teasingly, lifting an eyebrow.

“No, thanks,” Cheryl replied with a chuckle, pulling Toni back against her, and resuming their kiss. Toni giggled against her lips, and Cheryl really believed that life couldn’t get any better than this heavenly moment.

* * *

On Friday morning, Cheryl was awoken rather early by a scratching sound that immediately freaked her out. She opened her eyes, and became aware of Toni’s arms wrapped around her firmly. She smiled to herself, almost forgetting why she’d woken up, until the sound could be heard again.

Rolling over in Toni’s grasp, she whispered, “Toni?” Toni groaned, pulling Cheryl in tighter and burying her face into Cheryl’s neck. “Toni, wake up.”

“Why?” Toni groaned. “Five more minutes.”

“There’s a creepy sound,” Cheryl told her girlfriend quietly.

Toni finally opened her eyes, pulling away from Cheryl’s neck and letting out a breath. “Huh?” She wiped at her eyes, and Cheryl heard the sound again.

“It sounds like it’s coming from the front door,” Cheryl whispered, genuinely freaked out.

Toni yawned. “What time is it?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl answered, “early. The sound woke me up.”

Toni nodded, pulling herself to a seated position. “Let’s go see what it is,” she said sleepily, and the two of them got out of bed. Cheryl followed Toni out of the bedroom and down the short hallway to the front door. Cheryl braced herself as Toni unlocked it and opened it, and she nearly screamed as a giant ball of fur appeared when Toni pulled back the door.

Thankfully, though, Cheryl was able to hold back her scream, because the giant ball of fur in question was just Hot Dog. His leash was tied to the little stair rail that led down from the door to the trailer. Toni immediately grinned at Cheryl. “The scary noise was just Hot Dog.”

“I didn’t know he would be here this early,” Cheryl said in her defense, but Toni was practically giggling anyway. She grabbed his leash and pulled him inside, then closing the front door. Toni extended her hand to Cheryl, offering her the leash, and Cheryl took in hesitantly. Then, Toni turned on her heel and headed for the bedroom. “Where are you going?”

“Back to bed,” she answered, “he’s _your_ responsibility today, babe.”

“Wait—TT!” But Toni just crawled back into bed, leaving the door open so that Cheryl could still see into the room. She turned her eyes down to Hot Dog who was wagging his tail and panting excitedly. “Maybe I should’ve bought some dog food ahead of time, huh, boy?” Hot Dog stared back up at her expectantly. “Well… I’m sure there’s something here I can give you for breakfast.”

She started looking through the cabinets in the kitchen. She and Toni had gone and bought some more fresh groceries earlier in the week, to counteract what Toni and Fangs had in the trailer otherwise. But none of the food in the cabinets seemed like something that should be given to a dog. She opened the fridge, and then the freezer, and her eyes landed on a box of frozen corn dogs. She lifted an eyebrow, and then looked down at Hot Dog, who was still panting happily.

“I’m sure Fangs won’t be mad that I gave you one of his corn dogs,” Cheryl murmured.

Five minutes later, she had a warmed up corn dog crumbled up in a plastic bowl. She brought it into the living room, and Hot Dog bounded after her happily. “Sit?” she tried, and Hot Dog obeyed. “Good boy.” She set the bowl down, and he immediately stood back up and started to eat, and Cheryl let out a little laugh. “Well, you were almost perfect.”

Hot Dog ate up the corn dog in a matter of seconds, and Cheryl got him another bowl filled with sink water, and he happily lapped up a lot of it.

“Alright, boy,” Cheryl said, “how about an early morning nap, and I’ll let you out to go to the bathroom once your food digests?” Hot Dog blinked at her and wagged his tail. She guided him over to the couch, grabbing a spare blanket and spreading it across the surface. She patted the covered spot and Hot Dog excitedly jumped up on the couch. “Lay down, boy.” Hot Dog stopped panting and laid down in a big pile of fluff on the couch. “Good boy.” She unhooked the leash from his collar and set it on the coffee table. “Now, take a nap. I really need some more sleep.”

She took a few steps away from the couch, and Hot Dog was back to standing on the couch, looking after her longingly. “Come on buddy,” she said, “you really gotta let me get some sleep. Lay down.” Hot Dog sadly obeyed, and Cheryl once again attempted to get back to Toni’s room. Hot Dog whined, and leapt off of the couch, following Cheryl. “Alright, fine. But if Toni gets mad, _you’re_ the one who’s going to have to deal with her.”

She grabbed a dish towel and used it to wipe Hot Dog’s paws as clean as they would get. He wasn’t really clean, but sheets and blankets could be washed. Cheryl walked back into Toni’s room, and Hot Dog followed her happily on clean paws. When she climbed into the bed, Hot Dog leapt up on top of her and Toni, and Toni jolted back awake.

“What the fuck?” Toni whined.

“He wouldn’t stay in there,” Cheryl answered.

“Ugh,” Toni groaned, forcing herself closer to Cheryl and making Hot Dog curl up at the end of the bed. He still seemed happy there, and Cheryl chuckled as Toni wrapped her arms around her, her eyebrows knit together like she was angry. “Maybe you should’ve just stayed out there with him.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “You want me to go back out there with him?”

“No,” Toni muttered, tightening her grip around Cheryl, who smiled a little.

“You’re so grumpy when you have to wake up early,” Cheryl whispered.

“Yes. Now shh. I’m trying to sleep.”

Cheryl chuckled. “I love you.” That got Toni’s face to soften, and her dark eyes flickered open and looked up at Cheryl.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “Now can I sleep?”

“Yeah, TT. Sleep.”

When they woke up again to their school alarms, Cheryl took Hot Dog out to go to the bathroom while Toni made them breakfast. Fangs woke up and was very happy to see Hot Dog, keeping him occupied while Cheryl was in the bathroom getting ready for the day. She asked Toni if Hot Dog would be okay in the trailer while they were all at school, and Toni assured her that he would be fine, and that as soon as she was home from school—since she would beat Cheryl back due to Vixens practice—she would make sure to take him out.

Then Cheryl kissed her girlfriend goodbye and said goodbye to Fangs—and to Hot Dog of course—and left for school.

Throughout the whole school day, Cheryl wanted nothing more than for the day to be over. She was highly anticipating the following day, initiation, and she wanted everything to be done with. Her nerves were heightening the closer it got to the ceremony.

Before Vixens practice, Cheryl realized that she’d gotten a text from Toni sometime during her seventh period.

**Toni – Have a good practice, babe! Hot Dog is all taken care of!**

**Cheryl – Thanks, TT! Are you really home already?**

**Toni – Oh, I actually skipped seventh period.**

**Cheryl – What? Why??**

**Toni – FP is only free for a couple of hours today. I’m trying to figure out if there’s some way we can work around the rules for the Serpent dance.**

**Cheryl – You didn’t need to skip school to do that, Toni :(**

**Toni – Don’t worry about it, babe, I’m doing fine in school. Seventh period wasn’t even going to be anything important today. Let me get this figured out for you, okay? You go and be the badass Vixen leader that you are.**

**Cheryl – Okay. Thank you, I love you.**

**Toni – I love you, too.**

Knowing that Toni was trying to work out the dance should’ve relaxed Cheryl, but instead, she started feeling even more on edge. She was anxious to find out what Toni and FP had concluded, and again, she just wanted everything to be over with. She did her best to stay focused during practice, but she knew that the rest of the Vixens could tell that she was a bit spacey. She ended up dismissing everyone ten minutes early, and Veronica and Betty approached her in the locker room as everyone was changing.

“You okay, Cher?” Veronica asked. “Stressed for tomorrow? We didn’t really talk about it at lunch today.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered. “Toni is talking to FP, trying to see if there’s some other way I can fulfill the last part of initiation. Or if there’s a way to at least circumvent the worst of it.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Betty said in surprise. “I hope they figure something out.”

“Me too,” Cheryl agreed. “I think it’s just got me on edge. All of it, but she told me she was doing that right before practice started, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“It’s normal to be anxious about this, Cher,” Veronica insisted. “This is a big deal. But you’ve got this. And now that Toni knows, she has your back, and you know that Jug and Sweet Pea and Fangs and FP all have your back.”

Cheryl nodded. “You’re right.”

“And,” Betty started, “we’ll all be there to celebrate with you afterward.”

“Thank you guys,” Cheryl said, “seriously.”

“Of course.”

When Cheryl left Riverdale High, she swung by the store to grab a can of dog food for Hot Dog’s dinner, and then she went back to the trailer. She was hoping that Toni would be there, but she quickly realized that she was going to be alone for a while. At least Hot Dog was there with her, though.

She turned on the TV, trying to calm her nerves, and Hot Dog hopped up onto the couch and rested his head on her lap as she grabbed her phone to text her girlfriend.

**Cheryl – Any luck? Also any idea when you’ll be home?**

**Toni – In a few minutes!**

**Cheryl – You didn’t answer the first question…**

**Toni – Let’s just say, I’m the ONLY one who’s going to get a fun show this weekend…**

**Cheryl – So you got FP to agree?**

**Toni – Turns out I was going about it the wrong way in the past. It’s gonna take a while to abolish this sexist as fuck rule, but all it says is that an incoming Serpent woman must do the tradition of performing a Serpent dance in front of her future brethren. But the Serpents interpret brethren as anyone in the Serpents. So FP agreed that you can do the dance for me, just me. You just need to do it BEFORE you can do the rest of initiation, that way there’s no limbo afterward, you can be done when you leave the Wyrm tomorrow.**

**Cheryl – That’s great news!**

**Toni – So I hope you’re ready to whip out that lingerie from Prom!**

**Cheryl – Oh, TT, I have a whole new set for this occasion…**

**Toni – You bought a whole new set?**

**Cheryl – Well, I thought I was going to be dancing in front of a bunch of old men. I bought a set that has slightly more coverage. And even if it is just going to be in front of you, I can’t not use the new one. It can’t go to waste.**

A few seconds later, the trailer door opened, and Toni walked in, causing Hot Dog to lift his head in excitement. “Hey babe,” Toni greeted, coming into the living room. “Hey, Hot Dog!”

“Hey,” Cheryl responded, “so, it went well then.”

“At first,” Toni said, “FP seemed hesitant to consider allowing any changes. I guess you’ve already sort of been trying to break traditions?”

Cheryl thought about her red jacket—that was the only thing she could think of. She just shrugged and said, “You might say that.”

“Well, he was hesitant. But I made him pull up the rule and we talked it out and he agreed that my interpretation is legitimate,” Toni said proudly. “So, babe, I hope you’re ready to put on a show for me _tonight_ …”

Cheryl’s lips curled into a smile. “Definitely.”

Needing dinner before any dancing could happen, Toni decided to make them some frozen chicken and instant mashed potatoes, while Cheryl watched TV, entertained Hot Dog, and chatted with Toni as she cooked. For the first time all day, she actually felt relatively calm and not crazily stressed about the following day.

While Toni and Cheryl ate dinner, Hot Dog gobbled up his can of wet dog food happily. They spent a little more time hanging out with the dog and letting him outside for a little while. When he’d tired himself out and came trotting back to the trailer, curling up on the couch in the blanket and dozing off, Cheryl and Toni took the opportunity to slip into Toni’s bedroom.

“So,” Toni said, lifting an eyebrow, “I wanted to say… if you don’t want to do a whole dance, you don’t have to. I can tell them you did one. FP and the guys wouldn’t know any different. And I didn’t want you to feel pressured at all.”

Cheryl’s heart practically warmed at hearing the words, and she smiled. “That’s really sweet, TT. But I don’t want to skip out on this whole part of initiation that’s supposed to be the biggest thing. Plus… I’m not nervous to dance in front of you.”

Toni grinned. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. So. When do I get to see you dance, then?”

Cheryl chuckled. “Impatient much?” She went over to the top drawer of Toni’s dresser, where she’d been storing her clothes for the past couple of weeks. “You going to play some music, or what?”

“I have to provide half of the show?” Toni asked back curiously, but Cheryl glanced over her shoulder and saw her getting on her phone.

“If you think the music is half of the show, many you shouldn’t get to watch anything,” Cheryl stated teasingly, and then some slow song started playing from Toni’s phone. Cheryl didn’t recognize the music, but she didn’t need to know it to start swaying to it naturally. She’d always been good at keeping with the rhythm of music. And maybe sexy dancing wasn’t something she’d ever really done before, that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to be sexy.

As she swayed her body side to side, still facing away from Toni, she began to slide her pants off of her body. She could practically feel Toni’s eyes on her, and she couldn’t imagine being without pants in front of _all_ of the Serpents.

Pants gone, she pulled off her shirt, lifting it over her head. Then she did her best to look sexy as she took off her bra and underwear, and began to instead pull on the black lingerie that she’d purchased for her dance. The bottom was a thong, but the top covered most of her midsection and also cleavage. Once she was dressed in the lingerie, she finally turned around to face Toni, who was seated on her bed, her eyes soaking in the view.

Cheryl closed her eyes, trying to move her body with the music. She leaned back against the bedroom door a little, sliding her body slightly down along it slightly. She brought her hands to her own breasts and her stomach, sliding them across her lingerie.

She finally opened her eyes again, meeting Toni’s, and took a few steps away from the door toward her girlfriend. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder and teasingly rolled her body close to Toni. Then she turned around, lowering herself slowly and letting her ass bump against Toni’s legs as she got low, and the same for when she started to dance her way back upward.

At this point, she was running out of ideas for what to do. She swayed along with the music some more, running her hands over her own curves, and then the song finally started drawing to a close, and Cheryl found herself standing still in front of her girlfriend.

“How was that?” Cheryl asked.

“Just… _wow_ ,” Toni murmured, reaching out and grabbing around to Cheryl’s ass, squeezing slightly and pulling her onto her lap. Cheryl settled into a straddling position over Toni’s lap, feeling a little shy after doing her dance. “You are _so_ incredibly sexy, baby girl.”

“Thanks,” Cheryl whispered. “I’m… glad I don’t _have_ to do that in front of everyone.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, “me too.”

Cheryl took in a shaky breath. “But… if things aren’t going well, and people aren’t willing to let me in unless I do it—”

“You do whatever you have to, Cheryl, to do what you want to do,” Toni insisted. “And I know that you really want to be a Serpent. So if that means you end up doing another dance, that’s your choice. Who would I be to judge you anyway? I think it’s the worst tradition that exists in the Serpents, but I still did it.”

Cheryl smiled sadly at her girlfriend. “Hopefully, I won’t have to do it tomorrow. And hopefully, no more girls will ever have to do it.”

Toni nodded. “Yeah… hey, don’t tell Jughead, but I think part of the reason that FP was down to go around the rule is because he doesn’t plan to stay leader of the Serpents for much longer. He kept saying things that made it sound like he’s planning on stepping down. And pretty much all of the Serpents expect Jughead to take the reins.”

“Oh wow,” Cheryl said in surprise. “So you think Jughead is going to be the Serpent leader soon?”

Toni shrugged. “Maybe. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I’m not sure I trust him to lead _everyone_ … but I know he has good ideas for the Serpents. Ever since he officially joined, the Serpents have gotten a little more… chill, I guess. Plus, when Jughead joined, FP kind of stepped up even more than he had been, and now more of us have jobs, and we have to do fewer drug runs and stuff… so, it could be good for a change of leadership, if the new leadership is going to be Jughead.”

“How exciting,” Cheryl said, “I’m going to get to be a part of a major change in leadership of the Serpents.”

Toni grinned. “I’ll admit… I’m excited for you to get initiated tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Cheryl agreed unnecessarily. “And I’m glad that you are too.”

“I love you, Cher.”

“I love you too, TT.”

* * *

Saturday morning, Cheryl could barely stomach breakfast. She had never been so nervous for anything in her entire life. Toni and Fangs kept telling her that she was going to be fine, and deep down, she knew that they were right. But mostly, she couldn’t stop thinking about what could go wrong.

The day started out in a major blur, and Cheryl ended up skipping lunch for fear of vomiting due to her nerves at the meeting. After Fangs and Toni had lunch, Sweet Pea came over to hype up Cheryl, and then they all went to the White Wyrm. Toni and Sweet Pea kept saying things to her as they walked into the bar, arriving a little before most of the other Serpents, but Cheryl could hardly pay attention. She was reciting the laws over and over again in her head. In an hour, she would be a Serpent. She just had to make it through this _one_ hour.

When other Serpents started to file into the bar, Cheryl felt her breathing turn much more rapid. Suddenly, though, Toni’s arms were wrapped around her shoulders, and Toni’s face blocked half of her view. She looked down to meet her girlfriend’s eyes. “Hey,” Toni was saying, “snap out of it, babe. You’ve got this, okay?”

“Okay,” Cheryl answered quietly.

“I love you,” Toni whispered, getting a smile from Cheryl.

“I love you, too.”

After that, Cheryl was able to mostly stay distracted by listening to Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Toni talk. She nodded and laughed along with them, but she was still hyperaware of people staring at her as they wondered why she was here, and then made the connection. She couldn’t stop wondering what everyone was thinking, which, she realized, was ridiculous. She was supposed to be _done_ caring what people thought of her.

But this was supposed to be her new family, she realized. She needed them to support her.

And if she made it through this, they would. That was the rule. No Serpent stands alone.

FP finally walked into the Wyrm, Jughead on his tail, and the bar began to quiet down. Cheryl took a deep breath, leaning against the table that she, Toni, and their friends were standing by.

“Good afternoon, Serpents,” FP greeted everyone. “I’m sure you’ve all figured out why we’re here today.”

“The Northsider is joining our ranks?” someone called out.

FP nodded. “That’s right. Anyone have anything to say about it?”

“What has she done to allow this?” someone shouted. “One donation drive?”

“Fair question,” FP agreed. “How about we hear from our fellow Serpents. Who can vouch for Cheryl Blossom?”

“I can,” Toni said, drawing gazes. “She was there for me when my uncle kicked me out. She helped me make sure I was safe while I had nowhere to stay. And that was back when she barely even knew me.”

FP nodded. “Okay. Anyone else?” There was silence for a moment, and then an unexpected voice shouted from the other side of the Wyrm.

“Yeah,” he called, and Cheryl realizing suddenly that it was Cody, “yeah, she got Riverdale High to let us Southside kids go to prom, and she made sure the tickets were affordable.”

“She’s been really open to learning,” Sweet Pea called out. “She’s taken criticism and advice and grown from it. Most Northsiders couldn’t ever do the same.”

“Anyone else?” FP asked, glancing around the bar.

“Before Felicity left,” Fangs said, “she said that Cheryl was just like us. In need of a family after what she’s been through with her own family. And Felicity _hates_ the Northside. But even she liked Cheryl, after getting to know her.”

FP nodded. “Anyone else want to vouch for Cheryl?” No more voices spoke out. “Anyone have any more questions or objections? Speak now, Serpents.” A few people glanced around uncomfortably, like maybe they wanted someone else to say something, but no one spoke up. Cheryl felt herself relax. “Okay. Then we’ll begin with this initiation.”

Cheryl stepped up into the center of the bar, under FP’s direction, and it was time for the laws. He shouted for her to say each law, one by one, and one by one, she answered.

“No Serpent stands alone!”

“If a Serpent is killed or imprisoned, their family will be taken care of!”

“A Serpent never sheds its skin!”

“No Serpent is left for dead!”

“A Serpent never betrays its own!”

“In unity, there is strength!”

After the last one, every other Serpent in the bar shouted, “In unity, there is strength!” And Cheryl felt adrenaline racing through her. Her heart pounded as the glass cage was brought out. A snake laid curled around a branch, and an opened switch blade sat in the center of the cage. FP said something that Cheryl couldn’t absorb, and then nodded at her, and she stepped up to the cage.

She held her breath as she lowered her hand slowly into the cage. The snake hissed at her, watching carefully. She moved slowly, and then wrapped her hand around the hilt of the knife, pulling it up slowly. The snake hissed again, and she saw it rearing up to strike at her. And right as it seemed like it was going to strike, she yanked her hand and the knife out of the cage, and the snake barely missed her.

“Damn, Red,” she heard Sweet Pea mumble, and FP clapped his hands together. Cheryl let out a slightly shaky breath, and then steeled her expression, not wanting anyone to see that she was at all nervous.

She turned to look at the Serpents, and realized that FP was speaking. “—so, as per the new interpretation of the rules, new women joining the Serpents may perform the dance in front of their choice of Serpents.”

“What!” someone exclaimed, and many other voices shouted in agreement.

“Quiet!” FP tried to yell, but the bar was filled with commotion now, and Cheryl took in a deep breath, trying to keep herself steady even as everyone yelled around her.

“Guys!” Jughead suddenly yelled loudly, managing to steal everyone’s attention because he had apparently climbed up onto the bar. “Shut up, and listen. This new interpretation is hardly a stretch. Anyone who’s read the rule would easily agree that this is legitimate. There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of change—it can make us better. Just look at Cheryl. A few months ago, if she stepped foot into any sort of Serpent business, she would’ve been cast out without a second thought.”

“There’s good change and bad change!” someone called out.

“And this is good change,” FP yelled back. “The women of this gang have been saying for years that this rule is outdated. And I know that a lot of you don’t agree with that. But the longer we hold off on changing it, the more we are going to become divided. And we _must_ remain united!”

“In unity, there is strength!” Jughead shouted.

“In unity, there is strength!” everyone echoed, and Cheryl took that as acceptance of the new dance rule.

“Then, without further ado,” FP said, “let’s give it up for the newest addition to our ranks!” Applause suddenly began, and Cheryl felt her heart racing. Jughead hopped off of the counter and reached behind the bar, grabbing out a red leather jacket that got some gasps from various Serpents—including Sweet Pea and Toni. He walked up to her and held it up for her to slide on, and she couldn’t fight her grin and she slid her arms through the holes. It fit like a glove, and she just wished she could see the Serpent emblem on the back while she was wearing it. She looked over at Toni, a smile on her face, and she caught Toni biting back a grin as well.

* * *

“It really suits you,” Toni said, sitting on Cheryl’s lap on a yard chair that had been set out for the bonfire that was starting. “I’m surprised your other leather jacket wasn’t red.”

“I bought that with the _hope_ of wearing it,” Cheryl reasoned. “This one, I bought with the _intention_ of wearing it every day. I couldn’t _not_ make it red.”

“It’s hot,” Toni admitted, running her hand along the red leather of the sleeve. “And… you look really good with the Serpent symbol on your back.”

“Just wait till it’s on my skin.”

“Where are you going to get it?” Toni wondered.

“I was thinking maybe on my stomach, on the right side,” Cheryl answered. “What do you think?”

“I think it’ll look great there,” Toni answered, biting down on her lower lip. Cheryl gave her a flirty smile in response, and then suddenly, a group of people was approaching them.

It was _all_ of the high school age Serpents: Sweet Pea, Fangs, Joaquin, Jughead, Cody, and Cody’s three Serpent friends. “Hey, Red,” Cody said, “we wanted to say welcome to the Serpents.”

“We’re all really impressed that you went through with this,” Fangs told her. “And we know that some of the older Serpents may be hesitant to make you feel really welcome…”

“So,” Sweet Pea picked up, “don’t forget that we’ve got your back, okay? And the more you keep proving yourself to the rest of the gang, the more they’re going to accept you. Don’t forget that.”

“Thank you. All of you.”

“Anytime,” Jughead said with a smile. “It’s kind of nice to have another person who goes to Riverdale High be in the Serpents.”

“When are you getting your tattoo, Red?” Joaquin asked.

“Tomorrow,” Cheryl answered. “That’s the plan, anyway.”

“Cheryl!” a voice suddenly exclaimed, and Cheryl glanced over her shoulder, keeping her arm wrapped around her girlfriend to keep her from falling off of her lap. It was Veronica, Betty, and Archie coming up to the bonfire, and Veronica had been the one to yell.

“Look, dude,” Fangs said, nudging Sweet Pea, “it’s your new _girlfriend_.”

“Shut up, man, we hooked up _once_.”

“And you’ve been texting her nonstop, lately.”

Jughead asked, “You were brave enough to ask Veronica for her number?”

“No,” Cheryl answered, looking back at them, “I gave his number to her.”

Fang snorted with laughter. “Dude, you’re such a wimp.”

“Hey guys!” Veronica greeted as she, Betty, and Archie finally got close enough to join the conversation. “Oh my god, your jacket, Cher!”

“Do you like it?” Cheryl asked.

“It’s so… _red_ ,” Betty said, eyes wide.

“What she means,” Veronica corrected, “is that it’s so _you_. It looks great, Cheryl. Really!”

“Thanks!”

“So I take it everything went well?” Archie asked, glancing over at Jughead and then back at Cheryl and Toni.

“Yep,” Jughead answered for her. “She got through it with flying colors.”

“And she’s the start of no more forced striptease dances in front of all of the Serpents,” Toni added. Cheryl turned her head to look at her girlfriend with a smile, and was met with a kiss that she returned happily.

"Wow, changing history,” Veronica teased. “Sounds like definite cause for celebration. Where’s the beer at?”

“I’ll show you,” Sweet Pea offered, and Fangs snickered as the two of them headed over toward the beer cooler. Betty, Archie, and Jughead also headed over to the cooler, and someone finally started some music from next to one of the trailers.

The party continued in full swing after that. Cheryl drank a couple beers while eating three hot dogs. That was the barbecued food of the evening, and having skipped lunch, she was feeling extremely hungry. The fuller she got, the more she drank, and the lighter and happier she felt. She found herself pulling Toni out onto the grass to make her dance with her, and they started a thing, because a few minutes later, everyone was dancing to the music playing.

A few older Serpents came up to her during the party to welcome her to the gang. Some of them seemed genuine, others seemed hesitant. She gave them all the same smile and thanks, though, doing her best to win any and all of them over. She and Toni spent most of the party hanging out with their friends, though. At some point, Veronica—who was definitely a little bit drunk—grabbed Sweet Pea’s face and they started to make out. Fangs catcalled them teasingly, but neither of them even noticed.

Everything felt perfect that whole night, dancing and drinking and laughing and talking with her new family, with Toni by her side the whole evening. She was sure that a smile was plastered on her face up to when she curled up to Toni in her bed, burying her face into colorful hair and smelling the scent of campfire smoke in her beautiful locks. She let out a happy sigh, and murmured, “I love you.”

And Toni ran her hand through Cheryl’s fiery hair, scratching her short fingers soothingly against her scalp, and whispered back, “I love you too, Cheryl.”

And everything in the _universe_ was _perfect_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So on Sunday I will post the last chapter of this story! I was hoping to have my next story ready by then, but unfortunately, with everything going on I haven't finished it yet. We'll see about when I decide to post it.  
> I'll get all sappy about the end of this story after the next chapter, but as always I appreciate you all so much for being here and reading this update. I hope you all have a great and safe weekend <3


	30. what a time for you and i

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The semester, and the story, come to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening lovelies! Oh my goodness, this is the last chapter! I can't believe it, honestly.  
> I know we had our ups and downs to get here, but damn am I so appreciative of those of you who spend so much time here reading and interacting with this story. I have loved getting to share this with you, and it means the world to me that you all have enjoyed it so much.  
> Please enjoy this story and take a moment to read the note afterwards, and also feel free to leave any comments as I would very much appreciate reading them <3  
> Enjoy xx

On Monday, Cheryl walked into school with her red, leather jacket, Serpent emblem visible for everyone to see. She walked with the most confidence she had perhaps ever felt filling herself up. She knew people were staring at her—she reveled in it. She wished she could also show off her new tattoo, but it was fresh and healing, so it was covered by a bandage and her top. She’d gone the previous day with Toni to a Southside tattoo parlor that didn’t check IDs.

Through all of her classes that day, people were staring and whispering, and multiple teachers had to hush students to keep them focused. It was big news that Cheryl had joined the Serpents—something that no one had expected. Perhaps it meant that Riverdale itself was changing, and that the two sides could potentially fuse even more.

At lunch on Monday, things at her usual lunch table were absolutely normal. Cheryl and her friends talked about upcoming finals that would be the next week and how excited they were for summer vacation. The rest of the day was similar to the first part of the day, and then came Vixens practice. Since it was basically the end of the semester, practices were more relaxed, and Cheryl dismissed everyone a little bit early.

When she’d changed back into her regular clothes, and left the locker room, she was stopped by a sudden voice saying, “Cheryl.” She froze and turned around, meeting Heather’s gaze.

“Can I help you?” Cheryl asked.

“Are you… okay?” Heather asked, and Cheryl narrowed her gaze. “Just… I can’t figure out why you would _join_ the Serpents. At the beginning of the semester, you _hated_ them. Did that really change in a matter of months?”

“It did,” Cheryl confirmed. “I guess that’s the one thing I actually thank you for—making me go to the Southside to keep you company while you tried to seduce boys.”

“Wow… that’s seriously unexpected.”

Cheryl huffed, shifting her weight impatiently. “Anything else you want to ask me or say, while you’ve already stopped me?”

“I guess…” Heather took in a breath. “I’m proud of you, you know? You’ve gotten a lot stronger. I heard about your confrontation with your mom before prom, and it sounded like you could really hold your own—”

“Stop,” Cheryl snapped at her. “I was strong all along, and you manipulated me and repressed that. And I don’t need you to be proud of me to be proud of myself. So do me a favor and just don’t try and make amends. I have no desire to be your friend again, Heather.”

Heather nodded slowly. “Alright. Fine, I won’t.”

“Good,” Cheryl said. “I’ve got to go.” Heather nodded, and Cheryl turned on her heel, heading out of the school and grabbing her phone from her back pocket.

**Cheryl – You ready?**

**Toni – Yep, I’ll meet you at Thornhill.**

**Cheryl – Okay. See you there. X**

**Toni – I love you.**

**Cheryl – I love you too.**

Cheryl drove herself back to Thornhill. Her bags of clothes and toiletries had been in her car since this morning. It was time for her to move back to Thornhill with her parents. She was no longer afraid of her parents. She had a new family to protect her, and she’d been gifted the switch blade she’d taken from the snake tank. If she needed to, she wouldn’t be afraid to inform her parents that she had it.

She was also thinking about turning eighteen later in the year, and maybe going to visit her Nana and asking her if she could move into Thistlehouse to be away from her parents for most of her senior year.

For now, though, she needed to show her parents that she had her power back, and that they should never try and take it from her again.

When she got to Thornhill, Toni’s bike was parked by the entrance to the long driveway, and when Cheryl pulled onto the driveway, Toni started up her bike again and followed her.

Cheryl got out of the car and grabbed her bags and her backpack as Toni came up to her. “You okay, babe?”

“More than okay,” Cheryl answered. “In fact, I’m feeling on top of the world.”

A smile appeared on Toni’s face. “Good. Come on, let’s get you your space back.”

They walked into Thornhill without any fear, and Cheryl made her footsteps heavy as they walked up the stairs and brought her bags to her room. As a result, on their way back downstairs, Cheryl’s parents had come to the foot of the stairs to investigate the noise.

“Cheryl,” Clifford said, sounding a mix between surprised and relieved.

Penelope sniffed. “So, you finally come home and you _still_ have this _vermin_ with you?”

“Mother, father,” Cheryl greeted, finishing her walk down the stairs, “thank you for this _very_ touching welcome back home. Before things get out of hand, I would like to make a few things completely clear.” She slipped her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. “You will _never_ attempt to send me away _ever_ again. You will not _insult_ my girlfriend. You will appreciate the fact that I am even still living here, rather than exposing you to the rest of the Blossom family for the horrible parents that you really are. I can only imagine what Nana Rose would think if she discovered that you tried to send her only granddaughter to _conversion therapy_. I can already imagine how quickly her will would get rewritten, can’t you?”

“Cheryl,” Clifford interrupted, “stop this foolery.”

“Oh, I’m not joking, father,” Cheryl stated plainly. “If either of you make any sort of move against me, I am prepared to defend myself. And let’s just say that a lot more people will have my back than the _last_ time you came at me.” She glared at Penelope, who flared her nostrils angrily. “Am I understood?”

“You ungrateful child,” Penelope hissed.

“Am I _understood_ , Mumsie?” Cheryl repeated, taking a step closer to her mother. Getting closer to her mother must’ve allowed Clifford to see the back of her jacket, because he gasped suddenly.

“What on God’s Earth are you wearing?” he demanded. Penelope furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, peered around to Chery’s back, then gasping as well.

“You went and joined those _imbeciles_? And they accepted _you_?”

“You would do well, Mumsie,” Cheryl growled, “to keep your mouth shut about the Serpents around me. Again, I’ll ask, are all of my rules understood?”

Penelope looked like she might explode from anger, but Clifford placed his hand on her shoulder and nodded stiffly at Cheryl.

“Good. We’ll be in the kitchen making dinner. Feel free to _not_ join us.”

* * *

Getting used to being back at Thornhill took a little bit of time, but after a few days, things seemed pretty much like they had been before. Cheryl went back to avoiding her parents, and they seemed to be avoiding her too. It was nice, though, to see Jason more regularly again. They had a sit down talk over breakfast on morning, discussing Cheryl joining the Serpents. He was very shocked, but rather than being judgmental, he asked a lot of questions and seemed genuinely curious into her thought process behind the decision. Ultimately, he told her that she was his sister, and he would always love her, and that he would support her in this if it was what she really wanted. And, of course, if the jacket wasn’t a big enough clue that this was what she wanted, her tattoo definitely was.

The following week of school was finals, and it was only a half week. By Wednesday, finals were done, and junior year was done, and everyone decided that a party was in order. They ended up at the bonfire at Sunnyside, and Veronica and Betty joined the Serpents for it as well, and they all drank and celebrated the school year being over. And sometime that same evening, the Southside High kids all got emails suddenly. Toni checked her phone, and her jaw dropped.

“What happened?” Cheryl asked, glancing around at the guys too.

“Southside High is closing down,” Toni answered.

“For how long?” Betty asked in surprise.

“Indefinitely,” Sweet Pea replied. “Man, what the fuck?”

“You didn’t see this coming?” Jughead asked him. “Half of the classes and extracurriculars were already shut down by the end of this year, weren’t they?”

“Yeah,” Toni confirmed. “Wow. I wonder what they’re gonna do with all of the students?”

“I have a good guess,” Fangs said, lifting his eyebrows and looking over at the Riverdale High kids.

“You think you’ll be transferred to Riverdale High?” Cheryl asked, feeling her heart skip a few beats as she pictured going to school alongside Toni and her other Serpent friends.

“Possibly,” Toni said with a nod. “Wow, that would be great actually. We’d actually have access to like… _resources_ and extracurriculars and shit.”

“Dude, we can finally show those Bulldogs who’s boss!” Sweet Pea exclaimed, grinning at Fangs.

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I can already feel the overwhelming amount of toxic masculinity that will come about on the first day of school. Reggie and most of the other Bulldogs will not be happy.”

“Well fuck them,” Cheryl heard herself say. “Southside High sucked, and if any of the Bulldogs or the Vixens try to say _anything_ about you guys coming to Riverdale High… let’s just say, they will face the wrath of Cheryl Blossom.”

“Believe her when she says that,” Veronica piped up with a chuckle.

“I believe it,” Toni said, smirking.

The conversation started to drift away from school, but Cheryl found herself nudging Toni a little to get her attention. “You know what Riverdale High has?” Toni tilted her head. “An second art class. And a photography class _and_ club.”

Toni grinned. “You’re adorable, Cher.” Cheryl rolled her eyes, feeling heat come to her cheeks. “And I love you.”

“I love you,” Cheryl said back, and Toni’s hands suddenly found her waist, pulling her in for a deep kiss, and she heard Fangs wolf-whistle at them teasingly. She felt Toni’s right hand leave her waist, and she knew that her girlfriend was flipping him off. Cheryl just laughed into the kiss, ignoring everyone around them and celebrating the start of the summer here, with her girlfriend.

* * *

As summer kicked into gear, Cheryl found herself needing to figure out how to occupy her extra time. Toni started working a lot more during the summer—four or five nights a week—and on those evenings, Cheryl decided to get back into her old hobby of archery. She felt like it could potentially be helpful now that she was part of the Serpents, and she had lost touch with it while spending every second of her time at Heather’s beck and call.

It felt good to get back into it, but her favorite nights became the ones when she was at Sweet Pea’s trailer, with him and Toni—and sometimes Noah. Toni and Sweet Pea would be playing some video game, and Cheryl would sit on the couch with her feet in Toni’s lap, talking trash at Sweet Pea on behalf of her girlfriend even though she didn’t even understand the game they were playing. If Noah was there, he would nonstop talk to Cheryl. Toni told him multiple times to give up trying to seduce her, because Toni had already won, but Noah didn’t seem to care. Cheryl just thought it was adorable, and she knew that as soon as Noah started high school, this little bit of quirkiness he had might disappear, so she entertained it.

About halfway through June was Toni’s birthday. It fell on a Monday, so Cheryl told her girlfriend to make sure she had off that night, and Toni gladly obliged.

Cheryl planned the evening in advance, mostly because every part of it required early action for it to be ready on the day. The first step, of course, was Toni’s present. Cheryl had pretty much known what she wanted to get Toni for months, but it hadn’t clicked until she really started thinking about it. A camera—one like Jason’s, that Toni had gotten to use for the photoshoot with Cheryl. It wasn’t hard to acquire one online, thankfully.

Besides that, Cheryl had a special plan for the evening. It involved buying a picnic basket and lawn chairs, and a fold out plastic table, as well as a few other random things. The setup for that had to happen while Toni was working, so on Sunday night before Toni’s birthday, Cheryl made sure to get it done.

Then came Monday. Cheryl woke Toni up later than usual with kisses all over her face, giving Toni no excuse to whine about needing more sleep. Then, before they even got out of bed, Cheryl climbed down into the covers and gave Toni a proper start to her eighteenth birthday.

They spent the day, after that, with Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Jughead in Toni’s trailer. Jughead had gotten her a cake, and they lit eighteen candles and sang happy birthday, and Toni laughed as she blew them out.

It wasn’t until it was starting to get dark that Cheryl could initiate her plan. She put her gift for Toni into her car and packed up the picnic basket while the boys gave Toni her gifts. She didn’t want Toni to be able to guess what they were doing for her birthday.

When the boys left the trailer—sans Fangs, of course—Cheryl pulled Toni outside and to Cheryl’s car, guiding her around to the passenger seat and opening the door for her. “So chivalrous,” Toni commented with a chuckle, and Cheryl just rolled her eyes before hurrying over to the driver’s side. “So, where are we going? We gonna have dinner?”

“Yes,” Cheryl answered the second question, ignoring the first. Toni seemed to be analyzing where they were driving to within the first minute after leaving Sunnyside, and was confused.

“We’re not going to the Northside?” she asked.

“Nope,” Cheryl answered.

They pulled up to the White Wyrm a moment later, and Toni was beyond confused. “The Wyrm?”

“Nope.”

They got out of the car, and Cheryl went around to the back to grab the picnic basket and the wrapped giftbox. At seeing the picnic basket, Toni lifted an eyebrow. “The alley?”

“When’s the last time you looked at that place?” Cheryl asked, locking her car and starting to walk around the Wyrm, Toni on her tail.

“I think when we broke the crates,” Toni answered. “I didn’t see a point in going back there if I was going to have to sit on the ground.”

“I figured.”

They got to the entrance to the little space, and the junk that had been piled in front of it was gone. In its place was a few large sheets of wood, leaned up against the wall and still effectively blocking the hole. “What happened to it?” Toni wondered.

“I just figured this would be easier than pushing trash aside every time we come here. I found these up against the wall further down the alley, so I rearranged things,” Cheryl reasoned. “Push it aside.” Toni obeyed, and as the entrance was revealed, a light glow could be seen coming from it. Toni gave Cheryl a curious look, and then ducked down through the hole. Cheryl followed close behind, and heard Toni gasp as she looked around the little space.

Little battery powered twinkle lights were stuck up against the walls on all four sides of the small space. Two lawn chairs were seated against the back wall, with a plastic fold out table in front of them. The floor had been swept clean of sawdust and dirt. “Oh my goodness, Cher…”

“Do you like it?” Cheryl asked, setting the picnic basket on the table.

“It’s beautiful,” Toni replied quietly.

“I know you used to come here to be alone,” Cheryl said, “and I felt bad that you didn’t have this place. I know that you have the trailer now, but I know this is even more alone than that, and I just wanted you to still have this place to come to.”

“It’s great, Cheryl. I love it. Really.”

Cheryl smiled. “Good. Now, for dinner…” Cheryl set down the gift as well so that she could open up the picnic basket, revealing some Pop’s takeout bags. “Earlier, when Jughead brought the cake, he had these with him too. So don’t worry, they’re only a few hours old.”

“I’ll eat few-hours-old Pop’s any day,” Toni teased. “No milkshakes?”

“You have leftover cake at your trailer, I didn’t think you needed one,” Cheryl replied with an eyeroll. “And they would’ve melted.”

“I love you,” Toni said with a chuckle, and Cheryl grinned.

“I love you, too. Now, let’s sit down and eat, so I can give you your present after!”

They sat in the lawn chairs and dug into their burgers, Toni asking Cheryl how she’d managed all of this, and Cheryl told her how she came up with the plan and what it entailed. And when they finished their food, Cheryl grabbed the gift box and handed it to her girlfriend.

Toni looked really excited as she began to peel off the wrapping paper, and as she revealed the camera’s box, she gasped. “Oh my god, Cher!”

“I know you’ve always wanted a camera like this,” Cheryl said softly. Toni didn’t seem to be able to contain her grin as she finished tearing off the wrapping paper and reading the specifications listed on the outside of the box.

“This is perfect, Cheryl,” she breathed out, “seriously! I can’t wait to take pictures with this.”

“I figured you could start building a portfolio this summer,” Cheryl told her, “in case you want to have one for college applications.”

Toni smiled at Cheryl, her eyes sparkling with joy. “This is so sweet, babe.”

“I’m glad that you like it,” Cheryl replied, unable to fight her smile too.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

They ended up leaving the alley shortly after—turning off the twinkle lights first—because Toni was so excited to go home and check out her new camera. Toni holding the camera, Cheryl holding the picnic basket, and their other hands intertwined, they walked back down the alley and to Cheryl’s car. They climbed in, and Cheryl turned her key, and her engine came to life for a moment before sputtering out almost immediately after.

“Oh my god!” Cheryl exclaimed. “It’s been so long since this happened!” Toni laughed suddenly, and Cheryl looked at her in confusion. “What?”

“It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? That the first night we _really_ talked, this happened to you, and now it’s happening again?”

“That doesn’t sound funny. It sounds sad, because it means that my beautiful car is still being a piece of shit,” Cheryl argued with a pout.

“Oh cheer up, babe,” Toni insisted, leaning over the center console and pressing her lips to Cheryl’s pout. “We’ll just call Sweet Pea to fix it, it’s fine.”

“Okay.”

They got out of the car and texted Sweet Pea, and he said he would head over in a minute. In the meantime, Cheryl and Toni leaned against the car next to each other, their hands intertwined. They could hear some noise coming from the White Wyrm, but it was Monday, so it didn’t sound too crazy. Besides that, there were some noises coming from different parts of the Southside—some shouting and motorcycle noises. But it was peaceful.

“Sorry about my car,” Cheryl heard herself apologize.

“Don’t be, babe,” Toni insisted. “Nothing could ruin my mood tonight.”

“Really?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow. “ _Nothing_?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.” She shifted so that she was facing Cheryl directly. “Seriously. I think this might be the happiest night of my life. I’m eighteen now. I’m officially free from my uncle, he can’t decide to go back on his word and try to fuck up my life. I’m an adult. I can start thinking about my future, and since I’ll probably be going to Riverdale High, my future might actually be what I’ve always wanted it to be.”

Cheryl brought her hand up to Toni’s cheek. “It will be, TT. Your future is so bright.”

“And you’re in it,” Toni added, “I know that much for sure.”

Cheryl’s lips spread into a smile. “I’m so glad to hear that, because I am pretty sure that you’re in my future as well.”

Toni chuckled. “I love you, Cheryl.”

“I love you too, Toni.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over!! Ahh! As I said before, I am so appreciative of all of you! I will make sure to respond to all of the comments left on this final chapter, so please feel free to leave any last thoughts <3  
> A few "housekeeping" things:  
> (1) I will probably eventually post the Toni POV version of this, but it will very likely be incomplete (as in, it will just be the beginning and maybe a few select chapters here and there)  
> (2) I am currently working on a new story to post, but I have been on pause writing it since Friday because I have an exam coming up on Tuesday and a bunch of other stuff to deal with. Once this week is mostly over, hopefully I can get around to finishing it (it's 50,000 words right now, but I don't see it being longer than 90,000 words at most)  
> (3) Please remember that you can follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana ! Especially with everything going on right now, I've been trying to be super active on Twitter and I've loved getting to connect with a bunch of Choni fans! So please please don't hesitate to come tweet at me there <3  
> Again, thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day to read this. I hope you've enjoyed it despite the ups and downs, and I hope you will all stay tuned for the next story I plan to post, whenever I finally get around to it. Please stay safe and have a lovely week <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this chapter of What A Time! I very much appreciate each and every one of you for being here, spending any amount of your day reading my story. <3 Remember, you can follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana to keep up with my fanfic, or even just my life. I also have a YouTube channel where I sometimes post some vlogs and whatnot. Find links to those videos also on my Twitter. :) Again, I appreciate you all very much, and I hope that you have a lovely day! <3  
> P.S: do you know the song that this story is named after...?


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